Possibilities
by APearlFromSpace
Summary: The Crystal Gems are back home after being on Homworld with the Diamonds. Steven wanted a break from gem-stuff and decided to spend some time with his dad by helping clean up his van. The gems helped too, even though Pearl ended up doing most of the work. But during that time, Garnet suddenly saw a shocking new path unlock in front of her eyes. Leading to an unbelievable future!
1. Chapter 1

Possibilities

 _Chapter One : Drawings in the Sun_

It was another bright sunny day in the unusually quiet town of Beach City. Not a single fluffy cloud was in the blue sky, letting the scorching sun heat up the pavement. If people hadn't come up with shoes, their feet would defiantly be burning by now. Steven was thankful that he had his bright red sandals on his feet. His favorite and only pair that his dad had bought for him when he had grown out of the smaller red sandals. But it still didn't change the fact that it was hot, even for the gems who are usually not affected by weather.

They were all outside at Greg's car wash, his van was parked under the cool shade casted by the building. The shade would be enough to keep the inside of the van tolerable temperate for now, but after being in his van for hours cleaning out the mess, the heat had only gotten worse. The back doors of the van were opened all the way, and a pile of random things scattered on the pavement underneath the open doors.

Pearl had said the best way to clean out his mess-of-a-home would be to get all of its contents out first. So Steven, Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl and Greg had been doing that all afternoon. It defiantly wasn't the first thing they wanted to do after coming back from Homeworld, but Steven's kind heart couldn't say no to his own dad. Pearl had protested when he told the Crystal Gems about the mess that he wanted to help clean up. She had said there were more important things to do, and she was defiantly right.

White Diamond had agreed to cure all the corrupted gems, but refuses to leave Homeworld. There was only one way to help the corruptions on Earth, and it was to send them to Homeworld to be cured. It was definitely going to take a while for the Crystal Gems to go through the entire list of missing gems from the Gem War, but once they cross out the names of the corruptions that have already been bubbled, they would know how many corruptions remained active on Earth. All they had to do was find them and bubble them before sending them all off to Homeworld. It was much more important for Pearl to get started on that, but Steven had insisted that there was no rush to get it done, and that he wanted a small break from gem stuff. He seemed excited to be back on Earth, and able to spend time with his dad. Pearl gave in, understanding that Steven probably did in fact need a break from gem stuff.

And so the gems all came along with Steven to help him clean out his dad's van. Garnet had helped out a little, but was now leaning against the wall with her arms crossed since it was 'break time'. Amethyst on the other hand had her face dunked in a bucket of ice cold water, bubbling nonsense that everyone had to assume was a complaint about the weather. It was the only thing she had been talking about through out the two hours of van-cleaning. Pearl however, denied taking the break and was still rummaging through things in Greg's van. She had been carefully collecting and stacking up books and comics, then placing the pile outside before hurrying back inside the van. Steven was very surprised at how eager Pearl seemed to clean out every inch of his dad's van when she was the one that protested in the first place. But then again, Steven knew Pearl loved cleaning and organizing things. If she sees a chance to make something neat, she would take it in an instant. She seemed so determined to get this task done, while Steven just slumped in to a beach chair, sighing as he wiped the sweat off his forehead.

"I wonder when dad will be back with the soda's... it feels like it's been forever!" He complained, groaning as he turned in the beach chair to face Garnet, who was still leaning against the stone wall on the shady side. "Hey Garnet, can you use your future vision to see when dad will come back?" He asked her and sat up, confused as to why she now had a grin on her face.

"That won't be necessary Steven." She said as Steven followed her gaze, which was more like the way her head was facing since he couldn't really see her eyes with the reflective glasses on.

The boy smiled and jumped off the chair, running towards his dad who had just stepped on to the premises with two plastic bags in his hands. "Daaadd!" Steven shouted and ran up to him, hugging him briefly before looking up at him with stars in his eyes. "Did you get the sodas?!" He asked, and Greg replied. "Of course I did stchu-ball! Sorry it took a while.. I think mayor Dewy- I mean, Bill Dewy is getting used to his job..something went wrong with the cash register and he had to call tech support." Greg shrugged, handing the bags to Steven who took them happily.

"There should be five in each! I got a ton since I thought one can wouldn't be enough in this heat!" He chuckled, and so did Steven. "Thanks dad!" He said as he made his way back to the shade, where the Crystal Gems were lazily taking a break. Except Pearl, who was still in the van cleaning.

"YEAYAH!" Amethyst sprung up with her face and hair soaking wet. She hurried her way over to Steven and snatched one of the plastic bags from his hands. "Hey! Amethyst those are for everyone to share!" Steven said as he watched Amethyst eat the whole entire bag of five soda's, and then burped loudly. She sat down and chuckled, pretending to clear her ear out with her pinky. "Sorry Stevo, I couldn't hear you." She teased him, and Steven tightened his grip on the remaining plastic bag. "Now we only have five-! Which should be enough for all of us." He put his hand in the bag, grabbing the cold soda and handing it to his dad. He then proceeded to go around and hand out the other ones. Garnet immediately popped open her can and started drinking, while Amethyst just ate the whole thing… again. Then Steven came to Pearl, who was still cleaning out the inside of the van. He crawled in and handed a drink out to Pearl, who looked at him with a confused expression on her face.

"..uh.. Steven- I don't remember asking for juice." She said as she sat down on the floor as the half gem chuckled. "It's not juice! It's cold soda! It makes you feel good on hot days like this!" He said with his arm still extended out, the soda still in his hand. He had an adorable smile on his face that made Pearl unable to decline. She sighed and took the can from him, surprised at the sudden coldness in her palm. It did feel nice, but she didn't exactly want to drink it. "I'll.. save this for later." Pearl said as the gem on her forehead glowed brightly, swallowing up the soda can as it disappeared in to her gem. It was probably being sorted out by the Pearl inside Pearl's Pearl by now.

"So.. when will your break be over?" She asked curiously, but also trying to start up a nice conversation with Steven.

"Maybe in a few minutes! I'm still a little tired from this heat!" He replied and got out the last soda from the plastic bag. It was like holding ice in his sweaty palms, sending a chill down his spine. He shivered briefly before setting the empty bag aside and opening the soda can, quickly bringing it up to his mouth and drinking it as if he had never had a drink before. And for some reason, Pearl found it cute and silly at the same time. Wondering what the rush was as well as being worried that he was going to spill some of it on the collar of his red shirt.

Thankfully, that didn't happen. Steven had gulped down all of the soda in one go, and moved the van away from his mouth whilst letting out a sigh of relief.

"That was the best! I'm gunna go throw this away now!" Steven said as he put the empty can in the plastic bag and hopped out of the of the van. Pearl smiled lightly as she watched him collect the other empty cans from Garnet and Greg, and then went over to the trash can and properly separated the recyclables from plastic to cans. She couldn't help but feel slightly proud of him for doing so, since she helped him learn to get in the habit of recycling instead of just throwing everything away.

But then she remembered she still had a van to clean out. The pale gem shook her head and got herself back into reality. She continued to get every item out of the van, and was nearly done. "I don't know how he lives in this.." She mumbled to herself with an annoyed look on her face and folded up some of his clothes that were scattered about the small space.

Her finger tips suddenly hit something under the heap of fabric. It wasn't clothing, and felt almost like a hardcover book. She cautiously moved the clothing aside and pulled out what was underneath, and was surprised to find a very worn-out sketch book with a few doodles on the front of it. The sketchbook was more like a sketchpad, with spirals on the shorter side of the rectangular paper.

Curiosity overtook her again, and she opened the sketchpad to the very first page. There was a detailed pencil drawing of toddler Steven, fast asleep on top of a pillow from Vidalia's house. If it wasn't for all the pencil smears it could have easily been classified as a black and white photograph. She never expected Greg to be a good artist- Well, he was an adequate musician, but she never imaged him drawing this good as well. She never really saw him draw except for that one time when he said he was coming up with a new album cover, but Pearl didn't bother to take a look at it since at the time, she wasn't too fond of Greg and his type of music. She wasn't into loud noises and rock guitars, but over time did learn to appreciate the lyrics of some of his songs and especially the ones he created using his normal wooden guitar.

She remembered a younger Steven, trying to play his ukulele while sitting next to his dad who would be playing the guitar. It was so adorable, and Pearl didn't notice the slight blue blush on her cheeks from the memory of it.

She gently grazed the tip of her fingers across the delicate paper, and then turned to the next page. This time it was a sketch of the beach. He seemed to had been struggling with drawing the texture of water, but it wasn't too bad. She turned to the next page, and the next. His drawings got better and better with each new page she turned to. Most of them were sketches of Steven, or scenery and objects. Then some were crazy album covers with flames and a small portrait of himself. She even found one drawing of Garnet, leaning against the porch wall in front of the beach house. The drawing however was only half complete, and Pearl guessed that Garnet had caught him drawing her and went back in the house.

Then on the next page, there was even a drawing of a younger Amethyst with medium length hair. She was laying on the sand on the beach with a slightly older Steven laying next to her. Both of them were looking up at the sky, as if they were having a conversation about space or maybe about the constellations. "I see he finally learned how to draw water texture.." Pearl mumbled to herself again with a slight smile as she looked at the ocean waters he had drawn. She took her time examining that drawing since she was coming to the end of the sketch book, but eventually turned the page.

There was a drawing of her. She was in her old Crystal Gem outfit, sitting on the couch beside Steven with a book in her hands. She remembered this- Steven had brought home a new book from the library and wanted some one to read it to him. Garnet at the time was not home, and Amethyst didn't like books, so she took the liberty to educate him a bit. Even if it was a non-fiction story, there were still some useful information within the book.

She didn't realize herself smiling slightly as she looked at the drawing. It was like a picture taken and printed out with a pencil on the paper in front of her.

"I see you found my old sketch book.." Greg's voice snapped Pearl out of her thoughts as she looked up to find him sitting on the edge of the van. His head was turned slightly to face her, and he seemed to have a blush of embarrassment on his face. "Greg I.. didn't know you liked to draw so much." She said as she moved over and sat next to him, swinging her legs off the edge of the van as she showed him the sketch she had been looking at of her and Steven. "This drawing.. you did a fine job capturing this moment." She gestured to the sketch, giving the compliment out with a smile. "I do a bit of drawing myself, but I've never drawn Steven now that I think of it.." She tapped her finger on her lips, pondering on when and how she would draw Steven if given the chance.

"You draw? Can I take a look at some of your drawings? Since I did let you look at mine!" Greg chuckled, watching as Pearl blushed a slight blue. "..I..I haven't drawn in months..! The last time I drew was when I sketched out the Aquamarine Steven was looking for when-" She paused, deciding to drop that story. "Anyway, I tossed away that drawing.. but I may have some." She said as her gem glowed brightly and she summoned an old lined-paper book. She handed it to Greg, looking away nervously. "..there isn't a lot, but you should find some of my drawings in there." The pale gem moved her gaze back to Greg's sketchbook in her hands, and looked at the drawing of her and Steven.

The human flipped through the pages curiously, passing by some pages with a bunch of ancient gem writing since he couldn't exactly read those. But the sketches he found in the journal were amazing to his eyes. She drew a lot of different types of flowers, and some of the places Rose used to go often. Like her garden and her armory. Pearl was really good at drawing the gem weapons in Greg's opinion, even though he's never seen a lot of gem weapons Pearl had drawn, it still looked very real. And of course, there were a couple drawings of Rose.

Pearl seemed to notice Greg stopped on a sketch of Rose that she had done from behind. She was standing on the shore, her back turned to Pearl and her dress flowing slightly in the still wind.

"I could never capture her beauty.." She added with a blush. "..It was.. difficult for me to draw her, since when I got that journal, she was already pregnant with Steven.." The gem finally decided to look up, and met Greg's eyes. He seemed to have a look of remorse in his eyes. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have-" She gulped and looked away once again, nervously rubbing her arm. Greg's sketch book was now resting beside her, still turned to the page of the sketch he did of Pearl and Steven.

"Bismuth was a much better artist than me.. She made that painting of Rose, and asked me to hold on to it in my gem." She sighed a sad sigh. "Rose never got to see it. When I heard Bismuth went missing during the war- I just.. couldn't give it to her. But eventually I showed Garnet and Amethyst, and we hung it up in the house." She said with a warm feeling in her light manipulated heart, chuckling slightly. "I was almost jealous of Bismuth, since she was also making a huge statue of Rose for her in her forge… But- anyway, you should really take a look at some of Bismuth's drawings. She draws with lava on metal and stone, it's quite beautiful." She said joyfully and clasped her hands together, and Greg smiled.

"That does sound pretty cool- but you should really give yourself more credit Pearl. These drawings are amazing!" He smiled back, and the blue tint of embarrassment appeared on her cheeks again. She scratched one side of her face with a finger nervously, glancing away with a silly smile. "T..thank you Greg." She replied as he continued to look at the rest of her drawings, which were mostly of the temple and other ancient-looking gem places.

He closed the journal and handed it back to her. "Thanks for letting me see your drawings! I defiantly have some new ideas for album covers!" He smiled as Pearl took her journal back and stored it back in her gem. "Well if you ever need any help drawing, I'd be happy to contribute." Pearl said professionally as she picked up Greg's sketch book and looked at the drawing once more before handing it back to him.

"You really like this drawing huh?" He asked a rhetorical question, and Pearl only nodded slightly.

Then the human ripped the drawing out of the sketch book, making sure not to rip the actual part where the sketch starts. "Greg! What are you doing?" Pearl said almost in a panic, wondering why he would take out such a great drawing from his sketch book. "I'm just giving it to you!" He handed the thin paper to her. "You can have it, if you like it that much." He watched as Pearl slowly took the paper as if it was some magical gem artifact. "I.. don't know what to say.." She mumbled quietly, a small smile on her face that Greg thought was kinda cute.

"I have one more sketch book somewhere in this van, or maybe it's in the car wash office? I put it somewhere... but when I find it, you can take a look at those too if you like!" He said with more confidence this time. He wasn't so sure about showing his old drawings to Pearl, but she found his old sketch book and now she's seen them. He was defiantly more proud of his recent sketches, which he considered much better than the ones Pearl had seen today. But she had thought the old ones were good too- Greg wondered how she would react to his newer ones. He watched as Pearl put the paper away in her gem, turning to Greg to thank him.

But her eyes fell on the sketch that was on the next page of Greg's sketchbook. She had been so fixed on that drawing of her and Steven, she hadn't bothered to see the last two sketches beyond it.

The next one was an unfinished bust-drawing of her. She had her eyes closed with a smile on her face as if enjoying the warmth of sunlight.

The human followed her gaze, and blushed. "Oh yeah.. I never finished this one.. and the next one is just a similar thing.. I think I saw you dancing outside once, and that inspired an album cover." He shrugged slightly, scratching the back of his head.

"Well why don't you finish that drawing, and I'll finish cleaning your van?" The pale gem suggested as she hopped off the edge of the van and stood up, facing him and leaning forward slightly. "Do we have a deal?" She said in a teasing tone, making Greg laugh a little. "It seems like we do." He replied in an also teasing tone, and the two of them laughed at their silliness.

It was only then that Pearl noticed Garnet, still leaning against the building. She completely forgot she was even there, since Garnet was so quiet and still, she seemed as if she was a part of the wall.

But the most odd part was the small grin she gave Pearl before turning around and walking away. "Its getting late, we should go." She said with her back to Pearl, still walking on ahead. The pale gem didn't even notice the setting sun until now as Garnet contiued. "Steven and Amethyst are back home playing video games while eating all the ice cream." She said with a chuckle, using the knowledge of her future vision. Since every path she saw for Steven's future as of tonight- was of him playing video games, with a tub of strawberry ice cream.

"Steven can't eat a whole tub of ice cream!" Pearl said in a worried tone, then turned back to face Greg. "I'll finish cleaning this up tomorrow, so.. don't create a mess!" She ordered, but then thought of a better idea. "Actually.. why don't we just do this-" Pearl said to herself as she started putting all of Greg's belongings that were scattered on the pavement in her gem. One by one they glowed and disappeared in to her Pearl, leaving nothing behind while Greg watched impressively.

"I guess I'm spending the night in the storage unit!" He got up as he looked around at the empty van, and the now cleared pavement. There wasn't a single trace of any of his things other than the sketchbook in his hands. Greg didn't really mind spending time in the storage unit, since it was like a secondary home to him. It had a couch, a functioning TV, and other things piled up in boxes.

He watched as Pearl put a hand on her gem, loosing her balance a bit and swaying. Out of instinct, Greg caught her before she stumbled and helped her get back on her two feet. The gem clung on to him with a tight grasp, waiting for the dizziness to go away. He looked at Pearl with a worried expression on his face. "..You alright?" He asked, and Pearl nodded. "Don't worry- just a little light headed.." She smiled and stood up straight on her own and eventually he let go. "Well you did just put all of my things in your gem!" Greg said jokingly, and was happy to see Pearl perk up a bit. But he was still slightly worried about her. "Pearl- do you want a ride back?" Greg suggested, but the gem shook her head. "I'm alright. The house is not that far from here." She said as she waved. "I'll come back tomorrow morning."

And then she left, and started walking beside the tall red gem known as Garnet. Greg sat in his empty van, watching the two until he could no longer see them.


	2. Chapter 2

Possibilities

 _Chapter Two : Overflowing Emotions_

Pearl scurried on to catch up to Garnet, who was already half way down the side walk leading straight down to the beach. Once Pearl caught up to her, she started walking side-by-side at a normal pace.

She couldn't help but turn her head slightly to look up at Garnet, whose face was glimmering a little from the orange warm glow of the sunset ahead. She still had that small grin on her red face, which made Pearl wonder what she found so funny. Since Garnet never really laughed or understood jokes. She was usually the one to say jokes and make others laugh, but just this once, Pearl wished she could see past the reflective glasses with the orange glow on her face. She wanted to know if Garnet was looking at her, or maybe looking straight ahead with a funny thought in her mind. Something must be funny to her, and Pearl started to wonder if maybe there was something wrong with her own physical appearance. She'd never seen that grin on Garnet's face ever since she had seen Smokey Quartz. It was a silly yet exciting grin, but right now she was able to contain it pretty well compared to that time.

Pearl looked down at the stone pavement as her foot stepped in front of the other. She continued to walk whilst nervously fiddling her hands, deciding to break the question out to Garnet. "Is there something funny about me..?" She asked with a slight sadness near the end of her sentence. But she was quickly relieved to see Garnet shake her head. "No. It's nothing you need to worry about Pearl." She replied in her monotone voice, still walking beside Pearl up the pathway.

The pale gem sighed, her nervousness fading as she looked up at the other Crystal Gem with a stern look on her face. "Garnet, If it's about me, please tell me! I don't want to look like a fool for the rest of my life…" She pleaded, looking at Garnet intensely whilst waiting for an answer patiently. There was a few moments of silence before Garnet decided to reply. "It's not about how you look like. And like I said-" She put a reassuring hand on Pearl's slender shoulder. "It's nothing you need to worry about." The last part was said to her in a friendly tone, making Pearl somewhat relaxed.

She sighed and nodded as the red hand left her shoulder. "Ok.." The mumble of a response was quiet, as if she was conspicuous about Garnet's answer. But she had to trust her, since she was the one with future vision.

And so Pearl walked with her in silence, looking ahead at the sparkling ocean at the orange sun set. It was beautiful to her, and relieving to finally feel some of the heat from the day fading and the atmosphere around her cool down. Even Beach City seemed to be enjoying the cool evening, since it was now a tolerable temperature.

Once the two arrived home, Pearl wasn't surprised to find that Garnet had been right about Steven and Amethyst. Both of them were sat facing the bright T.V, empty tubs of ice cream scattered along the floor in front of them. Pearl let out a sigh as she pinched the bridge of her nose, knowing that in a few hours Steven would most likely be complaining about a bad stomach.

Garnet walked right past the scene, and disappeared in to her room without saying a word. "I guess I'm dealing with this on my own.." Pearl mumbled to herself as she almost stomped up the wooden stairs to Steven's room and walked pass the two. Then she stood behind the noisy T.V, bending down and pulling the plug, dropping it once it was off. Steven and Amethyst both had a look of shock and sadness on their faces.

"Oh come on! We were almost at level ten!" Amethyst complained with a growl, tossing the gaming-remote down on the floor and then rolling on to her back. Pearl didn't care so much about Amethyst's childish reaction, but it defiantly hurt her to see a disappointed Steven looking up at her with his limp hands barley holding the remote. "Pearllll! You could have told us to stop, and we could have saved the game!" He whined, setting the remote down and looking at the tall gem standing by the T.V with her arms crossed.

"Steven, you know eating two whole tubs of ice cream isn't good for you! And how long have you been playing this video game?" She asked him like a mother scolding her child, and Steven looked away guiltily. "..m..maybe.. k-kinda.. three hours..?" He shrugged slightly as he replied, giving Pearl a silly but uneasy smile.

"I thought I told you that you can play games two hours a day! These screens aren't good for you, and sitting around eating ice cream isn't good for you ether!" Pearl said as she crouched down and picked up the soggy empty tubs, standing back up. "And now you aren't going to eat dinner, which would have been a much healthier choice for you." She sighed, walking past the two and down the stairs. Amethyst rolled her eyes, letting out a low growl of frustration and anger. "Urgh! I hate it when she's like this!" The purple gem hopped up, and then jumped down on to the couch on the lower level. "I'm going to play in some garbage if you need me." She said with a wave of her hand, and Steven watched sadly as she walked through the temple door and in to her room.

He flopped on to his bed, sighing of disappointment in loosing all of his game progress. While Pearl started cleaning out the kitchen, Steven decided he might as well start getting ready to sleep.

The next day, Greg didn't know why but he was in a rush to get back his car wash. He had only woken up about ten minutes ago on the comfy soft couch in his storage unit, and decided to drop by the Big Donut to grab something for his breakfast. But once that was done, he sat on the edge of his van in front of the car wash. Eating the delicious donuts he had bought while being surrounded by a calming silence and a cool summer breeze.

He had over heard a couple's conversation on the way here, and they were saying something about the weather being cooler today. Which was a good start, since it would mean organizing his van should be much easier with one less thing to worry about. And part of him was really excited to be organizing his van today with his son and the Crystal Gems. He had a lot of fun yesterday, and was sure he'd have the same amount of fun today. So he ate the rest of his sweet breakfast, thinking of how today was going to go.

Eventually when he finished eating, he remembered that he had made a special deal with Pearl to finish that drawing. So Greg swiftly crawled across the empty van floor towards the front seats, and grabbed the old sketchbook that he had tossed on the passenger seat last night. He also grabbed a half-sharpened pencil that was stored in the small drawer of his van, then moved back to sit at the edge.

"..hmm.. this is going to be a little difficult with out her actually being here.." He said to himself and held the pencil, looking down at the unfinished sketch of Pearl. It was defiantly going to be a challenge, but it wasn't going to stop him from completing his end of the deal. And so he started drawing, carful not to smudge the pencil led with the side of his palm as he drew. Trying his best to remember every little detail and every curve of the gem he was drawing, since this whole thing would now all depend on memory. However, he did had to change a few major things since this drawing was Pearl in her older outfit and hairstyle. Now she had a completely new one that suited her small frame very well, making her look more elegant than she did before. Which Greg didn't know was possible until he saw her step out of the gem ship with a new outfit after coming back from Homeworld.

He was so caught up in his drawing, that the only thing that snapped him back to reality was the small beeping noise of the watch he had put on after finding it in one of the old storage boxes last night. He turned his wrist to see the time, and was surprised to see that it was already noon! "Wow- already half way through the day?" He chuckled, looking up to check the premises for any sign of the Crystal Gems.

Pearl had told him very clearly that she would see him in the morning, and it was now the afternoon... Pearl never usually came late to anything, and he found himself starting to worry. "..I should have bought a cell phone-" Greg sighed with regret, glancing down at the golden watch one last time before deciding to wait another hour. If they didn't come by then, he would have to assume they were off doing some important Gem business. Or maybe taking a day off. Ether way, he would stop by the beach house just to make sure everything was ok. And so, he spent his time continuing his sketch and humming a tune from one of his songs.

"DAAAADD!"

Greg heard a faint familiar noise coming from the side walk beyond his car wash. He squinted his eyes to try and figure out where the noise was coming from, and saw a small figure running towards him in a hurry, who he later identified as Steven. He put the sketchbook and pencil down on the floor of his van and stood up, kneeling down as Steven came running with his arms stretched out and breathing heavily. But as Steven got closer, Greg realized something was wrong because of his red and watery eyes.

The boy jumped in to his fathers arms, wrapping them tightly around him and sobbing in to his shoulder. Greg hugged him back, worried as to why Steven was crying so much and hugging him so tight. He needed to find out, so when the hug ended, he firmly put his hands on Steven's shoulders, calming him down ever so slightly.

"Hey kiddo- what's wrong?" He asked worryingly as he looked at his sniffling and crying son. Steven was too distressed to speak proper English, letting out sobbing noises while trying to speak properly.

"I- THE STUFF- HURTING- WE DON'T KNOW WHAT-" He heaved, panicking as he spoke in gibberish. The boy was a complete mess, struggling for the right words while fighting his emotions and tears. "Shhhhh.." Greg tried to calm him more, waiting patiently for his tears to subside even a little. "Calm down buddy.." Greg said to him in a soft tone, and Steven started to take deep breaths. He closed his glossy red eyes and continued to calm himself down, and eventually the tension and shaking in his body went away. His breathing went back to normal, and the tears were able to stop for a few moments. Steven then opened his eyes, ready to talk before who knows when the emotions would start pouring back in.

"It's Pearl.. She's really sick.. and I didn't know gems could get sick! Garnet doesn't know what's wrong with her, and she keeps saying her gem hurts, and that something in her gem was hurting her!" He frowned at the memory. "..She didn't have enough energy to send all of us in to her gem, so Garnet went. She said it was a mess in there and that something was causing havoc! And nothing is working!" He started to cry again. "Garnet is never afraid of danger! She's the strongest.. and if she can't help Pearl then-" The boys tears started to flow out of his eyes again.

"..she did put all of my things in her gem yesterday.. maybe that has something to do with it?" He asked, starting to worry about Pearl himself. She was always so strong and confident in her own way, and he's never seen her weaken except for that one time Sugulite beat her up. That was scary for him, and for Steven. Seeing her on the brink of poofing wasn't something any of them were used to seeing.

Greg sighed and stood up as Steven used his arm to wipe the tears away once again. "Dad- do you know anything that could have been dangerous in your van..?" The boy asked and watched his father try and remember every single item that was in his van. But he couldn't recall anything being dangerous. "The only thing I can think of is the broken waffle iron.." He said with a sigh, still trying to think of anything that could possibly harm Pearl.

Then a familiar electronic-tune started to play quietly all of the sudden- and both of them were quick to figure out it was Steven's phone. The boy took the ringing phone from his pocket, looking at the screen to identify the caller. It was Amethyst, so he answered the call and brought the phone up to his ear. "Amethyst! How's Pearl?" Steven asked, hearing a bunch of clattering noises in the background.

"Garnet did it! She captured the Crystal parasite that was messing up her gem, but one of them got away! It jumped out of her gem- so Garnet's out in Beach City looking for it- poof it if you see it!" Amethyst said as she hung up. Steven then shoved his phone back in his pocket, meeting his dads eyes as the both nodded with a determined smile, knowing what they were going to do next. Which was hop in the van, and make their way to the beach house.

When Steven and his dad walked in to the house, they saw Amethyst putting the end of a green hose in Pearl's gem. The boy looked at her, puzzled but also worried about Pearl's painful groans. She was still sweating cold sweat, her eyes shut tight as her hands were clenched in to fists on her sides.

"I'm trying to put out a fire the stupid parasite started in Pearl's Pearl! That's why her gem was burning hot earlier!" Amethyst said as the boy and Greg walked over to the couch, where Pearl was lying with her glowing gem. She was heaving slightly and her eyes seemed tired. Overall, she looked miserable.

"Steven, do you think you can take over for a bit? I've been baby sitting Pearl all morning!" The purple sighed, with an annoyed look on her face. She was getting tired of watching over an over dramatic gem sneezing everywhere while objects shot out of her gem at the speed of light. Thankfully she had calmed down now, but the house was still a mess. Every time Pearl sneezed, Amethyst had to dodge whatever object whizzed passed her. Sometimes it was books, and other times it was one of her many spears which missed Amethyst by inches, stabbing in to the wooden pillar behind her. She hadn't bothered to remove it yet, since when Pearl recovered it would hopefully disappear at her mental-command.

The mess didn't bother Amethyst at all, but she wasn't the type to look after someone. Usually someone else had to look after her back in the early days, but now she was doing it. And she was tired and bored. The purple gem tapped her foot impatiently on the wooden floor, waiting for Steven to reply while lazily holding the hose in place.

"Sure! We can look after Pearl, right dad?" Steven smiled and looked up at his father with a slight eagerness in his tone. Greg couldn't say no- and part of him wanted to spend time here with his son and Pearl. "..Of course! She'll be in good hands!" Greg said with a thumbs up as Amethyst practically shoved the hose in to his hand and dashed out the house. "Ok BYE!" The purple blur zoomed across the beach, wanting to get as far as possible and have some relaxing-fun time with herself.

While Greg held the hose still, Steven put a hand on Pearl's cheek lightly, sitting beside the couch on the floor. Her skin was still colder then usual, and he could feel the slight trembling through out her body. "..Pearl?" He said softly, and the gem slowly opened her eyes with a very faint smile on her pale face. "Steven.. I'm so sorry.." She said in a raspy voice, not having enough energy to move or talk any further.

"What? This isn't your fault!" He smiled. "Don't worry. You're going to be better soon!" The boy said as he moved his hand away and stood up. "I'll go get you some pillows! It will make the couch more comfy!" He went over to the set of squeaking stairs and walked up to his room. He sighed when he saw a sleeping pink lion laying on his bed, knowing it might take a while to get him off.

"Y-you can take it out now.." Pearl said weakly as she looked up at Greg who was holding the hose uneasily. She gently put her slim hand over his, getting his attention since she wasn't sure if she had been loud enough for him to hear.

When Greg looked down at Pearl, he noticed the huge tears flowing out of her eyes as if Blue Diamond was crying right next to her. "S-Sorry!" He said in a panic, quickly retracting the hose but stopped half way, realizing he would have to turn it off first unless the gems wanted a puddle in their home. "Steven!" He shouted and looked at him. The boy was in the middle of pushing lion off of his bed.

"Yeah?" He responded, and Greg asked him if he could go and turn off the hose. And of course Steven was right on it, rushing down the stairs and following the hose to its water source.

Once Greg felt the coldness in the hose disappear in his palm, he took the hose out of her glowing gem and set it aside. "S..should I go get a towel or something?" He asked worryingly, watching as tears flowed out of Pearl's eyes. The gem sniffed and nodded, trying to wipe away the huge blotches of tears with her arm, but they kept coming back.

While Greg went off to get a towel, she sat up on the couch sighing of slight relief and closed her tired eyes. And when she opened them, Greg was handing her a towel and sitting down next to her. She took it with a smile and thanked him before quickly wiping the tears that kept coming.

Then Steven gasped, and it took a few seconds for the two of them to realize he had returned from turning off the hose. "Dad! I completely forgot-" Steven pulled out his small rectangular phone, and rushed to pull up a text-chat he had with Connie the other day. "I promised Connie that we would go see the fourth Lonely Blade movie today! I need to be at the there in five minutes-" The distressed boy had completely forgotten about his important promise due to being so panicked all day about Pearl being unusually sick. "I need to go! Is.. that ok?" He asked whilst doing that face- the face that every one was weak too.

"Go on Steven." Pearl smiled at him reassuringly, then Greg replied. "Yeah Don't worry, we'll be ok." He also smiled, and Steven brightened up and said a quick thank you before bribing Lion with lion-lickers to go take him to the movies. And within seconds, he was out the house and had gone straight in to a pink portal whilst riding on Lion's back, leaving the beach house rather quiet.

"So is this a- gem thing?" Greg broke the silence and asked curiously, but also was attempting to start a conversation with her. She shook her head slightly before replying. "N-no.. well.. it's a Pearl thing.." She sniffed again. "We can store things in our gems. But this time.. It's like trying to put a bunch of things in a box. If you put too many things in it, it will overflow and you won't be able to close it properly without removing some of the items." She chuckled. "My gem 'storage' is currently overflowing with water, and it's getting rid of it through my physical form. And in this case- through tears." Pearl said almost happily, despite the situation she was in and the tears that were still coming from her eyes. She had always loved explaining gem things to people, unless it had something to do with the Diamonds..

"That's awesome! Wait- so- what happened to my stuff..?" He asked as Pearl frowned, looking away, full of shame. "..it was burned to ashes. But my surface Pearl was able to keep some of your things safe from the fire!" She tried to be positive, and hoped that the things her surface Pearl had protected were valuable things. The pale gem was surprised to see a small smile appear on Greg's face. She was expecting for him to be upset or mad, but he didn't seem like any of the two right now. "Hey it's ok! I can always buy things since I still have a lot of money in my wallet- which I always keep with me." He reassured her, and Pearl did in fact seem to be a bit relieved when she heard that.

"Thank goodness.." she said as she wiped away the last few tears with a soaked towel and then set the towel aside. "I'm feeling much better now, so we can go and finish organizing your van with your remaining things! ... Tomorrow..!" She added the last part, and closed her sleepy eyes. She defiantly felt better, as if her gem had been completely emptied and was sparkling clean on the inside.

"Are you sure..? I can always finish up the cleaning myself-" He was cut off by Pearl, who chuckled in a teasing way. "..your horrible at organizing things in your van.." The gem mumbled, but Greg heard it clearly and blushed. "...yep. I can't argue with that!" He joked as well, but then felt a sudden pressure on his shoulder. He turned his head and looked down to see Pearl leaning on him with her eyes closed…her head was on his shoulder and she was breathing lightly.

She had fallen asleep.

He completely forgot about how Steven briefly mentioned how gems would sometimes sleep to help their physical forms recover from traumatic experiences. It was a way for them to heal if they didn't poof during battle. It helped their bodies rest and regain its lost strength.

But it didn't change the fact that she was sleeping against him.

Greg blushed a little, frozen on the couch since he didn't want to wake her up. He knew Pearl probably needed some sleep to regain her strength, but never actually seen her sleep until now. And for some reason, he started to enjoy the accidental display of slight affection. He's never had a thousand year old gem warrior fall asleep on him before. Even Rose never did anything like this- she was always awake and exploring. Playing around with other humans and being fascinated by every small thing on Earth.

But here he was. A 'terrifying renegade Pearl' fast asleep on his shoulder. And Greg had to admit, she was.. cute like this. Since it was rare seeing her happily resting, still and quiet when usually she'd be worrying about Steven or trying to get something done. But now she was peacefully snoozing. He found himself smiling and looking at her for longer than he was aiming to.

He then started to realize the small things about Pearl. The things that you could only see if she was this close to someone. Like how her peach pink hair was so soft against his skin, and her shining gem that was in fact smooth to the touch. And how small and frail she really was. Most of the time he had seen her fighting with her spear or lifting something a normal human her size would never be able to lift. But right now, she was leaned against him as if he was a pillow.

He didn't even notice Garnet had stopped half way walking to the warp pad to look at the two of them on the couch.

Garnet tilted her head to get a better look at the scene, smiling happily. "Aww.. that's cute. I wish she was always like that." She joked and walked over to the temple door and vanished in to her room, leaving the blushing human speechless.


	3. Chapter 3

Possibilities

 _Chapter Three : Heartfelt Conversations_

It was around 9pm when Steven came home from the movies. He was so hyped up about how good it was and even more excited for it to come out on DVD so he could watch it again with everyone this time. Every Lonely Blade movie Steven had watched so far were all really great movies, but he had to admit, they were nothing compared to the one he had just seen now with Connie. She was probably more energized than Steven about this, since right after the long list of credits ended, she kept on coming up with epic theories and talked about the new characters that were added.

Next time she came around to his place to hang out, they had planned to watch all the Lonely Blade movies together all at once, except for one of the movies. Steven didn't really like the second one he had watched, where the Boomerang Blade move was introduced. Maybe he could even say he hated that movie because of the flash backs it brought him. He could feel nothing but guilt, remembering how he wanted Pearl to teach him cool sword fighting moves, and then distracting her and causing her to poof... That was the first time Steven had ever seen a non-corrupted gem poof. And to make it worse, it was Pearl. The closest thing he had to a mother, stabbed in the chest right in front of him before disappearing. He could still clear remember every second of that moment, and hear the loud clatter of her sword fall on to the tiled floor of the sky arena.

Steven shivered at the memory as he walked up the wooden stairs in front of the beach house. It was dark outside, and also seemed like it was going to rain, which only made him trail his thoughts further on to the holo-Pearl that still haunted him to this day. The hologram stabbing Pearl was the first most terrifying and violent thing he had seen as a younger child. He had never acknowledged how painful it was for it to happen in real life to someone you love. All the action movies seemed so cool and interesting, but nothing about that situation was cool.

Before walking in to the house, he managed to calm himself down by remembering that Pearl was ok now. She's here, safe and sound with the other gems. And with that, he pushed away all the traumatic memories and walked through the door. Quickly scanning the dark room until his eyes fell on the couch.

Pearl was sleeping, leaning against his dad's shoulder. Greg was also sleeping now, his head resting on top of Pearl's head. His face half buried in the soft pink hair while Pearl's face was buried in the black fabric of his T-shirt.

They both seemed so happy and cozy, and even though his dad was snoring slightly, Pearl slept through it without making a single sound. Steven couldn't help but smile and pat himself on the back at the sight. He still liked to think that because of him, and the trip to Empire City, his dad and Pearl were now able to put the past behind them and become good friends. And it was everything Steven had ever wanted. For everyone to be friends with each other, and be one big happy family.

He felt a sleepy yawn coming along, and decided it was defiantly time for him to head to bed. So he quietly tip toed across the floor and to the bathroom, getting himself ready for a good nights sleep.

Pearl's eyes fluttered open as she heard the faint noise of the bathroom door closing with a click. Everything was a dark blur, so she waited for her eyes to adjust and for things to become more clear. And thankfully, the tears had long gone stopped by now, and when her vision cleared, there were no droplets of water pouring from her eyes.

She was quick to notice something was.. different. She was resting in to a warm soft thing, that had a relaxing breathing pattern.. and she turned her gaze slightly to see the black t-shirt, realizing it was Greg.

The gem blushed bright blue, feeling embarrassed at herself for falling asleep on him like this. But she had to admit, she did have a very nice sleep. And Greg was so warm and surprisingly nice to lean on. It was still weird for Pearl though, since she had never really had any form of physical affection from a human. Usually the most affection she ever got was from fusing with another gem. But dancing wasn't real affection.. and they would only dance most of the time to become stronger in battle. It didn't feel anything like what was happening now.

She felt safe, and relaxed.. not having to worry about messing up the fusion dance or fusing in general. She didn't have to worry about anything, and just enjoyed being like this. It was almost a comfort for her, which was new, because the only way she got any comfort was from encouraging compliments or occasional hugs from Steven.

She was getting used to being close to Greg. Before she couldn't even be anywhere near him, and didn't even appreciate his hugs- thinking that he wasn't clean, and the fact that he gave bear hugs. And at the time, she disliked him a lot because of what she thought he did to Rose. But now, she liked it. She's come to realize that he in-fact, was a very hygienic person despite his living conditions. Right now, he had the scent of lavender soap, probably because he works at a car wash. His shirt was soft and clean, and his hair was silky and brushed without a single tangle in it. He seemed defiantly more hygienic than Amethyst, and maybe even Steven too. But he still had to work on keeping things neat and organized. His hugs on the other hand, was something Pearl had only experienced once. She couldn't judge his hugs based on one hug, and it was only 'bad' because she wasn't used to it. But now that she had a better understanding of humans, she knew that the tighter the hug is, the more it means the person is trying to show how much they love the person they are hugging.

"..Pearl?"

She heard his gentle voice as he woke up. Greg had felt slight movement underneath his chin, and assumed she was awake. "Greg-" Pearl replied in a cold tone, not sure how to respond to him in this situation.

"S-Sorry!" He apologized nervously while quickly scooting away from her on the couch to create a bit of space between the two of them. Now he was the one who was embarrassed from falling asleep along with Pearl.

As he scooted away, the pale gem sat up straight, the blush still warm on face as she fumbled her fingers uneasily. "..it's alright. It was my fault really.." She apologized back, deciding to turn her head a bit to face him. She caught his gaze, and he too was looking at her with a blush on his face. She could tell he was just as nervous as she was, and both of them were in the middle of an awkward interaction. So Pearl exchanged glances with him quickly before deciding to speak up. "I didn't mean to fall asleep-" The gem added, not like she actually had to back up her apology since she knew Greg was always kind and forgiving. That's just who he was, and she appreciated it.

"Oh don't worry about it-" He scratched the back of his head, looking away at somewhere in the dark room. "You were sick and.. I'm glad you got some sleep! I actually got a bit of sleep too." He smiled, hoping to make things less awkward. Pearl smiled back, frustrated as to why her clearly blushing face wouldn't corporate with her and look at him properly. So she came to a conclusion to change the topic, or maybe even distract herself from how weird she was acting. "It's dark in here.. I.. I should go turn on the lights." Pearl said as she stood up on her two feet, only to feel that same dizziness cause her to sway and loose balance.

Thankfully Greg's reflexes were fast, and he caught her before she hit the ground. "I think you still need to rest-" He said to her, but noticed that she was unconscious. He panicked a bit and placed her back on the couch so that she was laying down again, trying to decide if he should go and get someone or just wait two minutes to see if she would wake up.

He didn't know how gem bodies worked, but he did know they were quite similar to human bodies than he had thought they would be. So most likely the dizziness was due to her suddenly standing up, and that dizziness caused her to faint. He had hoped he was right, and got up to turn on the lights himself. Once the lights were on, he heard the small click of a doorknob turning.

Steven walked out of the bathroom in his banana pajamas, perking up as he saw his dad and smiled. "Dad!" He ran over to him and gave him a quick hug. "I was just about to go to bed-" he chuckled. "And I saw you and Pearl- your like best buds now! Right?" Steven asked excitedly, and Greg chuckled slightly as well. "Best buds? That does sound nice." He replied and walked with Steven up to his room. Then tucked him in bed and kneeled down beside him and turned off the small night light on his bedside table. He remembered finding that old thing in the storage unit on a weekend, and Steven was so happy to get it he ran home and took a nap just to use it, despite it being the middle of the day. The memory made him smile.

"Dad? ..Can I tell you something?" Steven asked in a quiet and tired voice as he pulled the blanket up to his neck.

Greg nodded. "Sure. What is it?" He responded, and Steven replied.

"It might sound weird.. but through out my whole life- I.. I've kinda always thought mom would be like Pearl if she was here. Always being worried about me and making sure I'm ok- cleaning the house and taking care of me and all... But after finding out about mom being Pink Diamond- I started to realize that she's nothing like Pearl." He smiled slightly. "I started to think that maybe.. Pearl was a better mom for me than Pink. I always thought life would have been so much better if mom was here... but if she was here, Pearl wouldn't have helped raise me and she would probably still not like you... and maybe not like me too.." He frowned briefly, and continued. "But mom decided to leave. And even though she's not here, she's made everyone a better person! And I feel like.. she made Pearl my mom." He blushed a tiny bit. "Garnet is like the cool aunt, Amethyst is like my awesome sister, and Pearl is like...my mom. And you're my dad, and seeing my dad and gem-mom not avoiding each other makes me really happy! And I just thought I should thank you for giving Pearl a chance... I knew she could change, and all she needed was a trip to Empire City!" He laughed slightly along with his dad.

"Well Schtu-Ball, I'm really glad she's given me a chance to be honest!" He blushed. "I've felt bad my whole life after getting together with Rose.. but now I feel so much better. Knowing that Pearl's forgiven me and sees me as a friend instead of... whatever she used to see me as before! Probably an enemy... but besides that, I'm glad me and Pearl are friends. And I'm glad that we're both on the same page about Pearl being sort of- and adoptive mother to you.." He smiled lightly, and Steven smiled back. "I remember when you were just a toddler- I left Pearl with you in Vidalia's living room. And when I came back, she was feeding you and singing to you.." The blush returned. "Don't tell her I saw that- but I know despite her always pretending like she didn't care for you back then- She really did. And over time, she started to not hide the fact that she loved you. If any thing- You changed her Steven. Not Rose, but you.." He gave his son a small pat on the head, who seemed so happy. "And now she loves you more than anything! She's probably been a better parent that I have-"

"I think you're both great parents dad!" Steven complimented, letting out another yawn. "..and I also think I'm going to get some rest now..." He gently put his hand on top of his dads. "Good night dad.." He said whilst closing his tired eyes. "Good night Steven.." He said as he made sure the blanket was over him properly, then stood up. He walked down the squeaky stairs and glanced over at the couch.

Pearl had turned her back to him, and was sleeping. He could see her body rise up and down, and her legs shift slightly in her sleep. Glad to know that she was no longer unconscious on some level, he left her to rest and walked out the beach house. When he got to his van, he hopped in the drivers seat and started to drive back to the storage unit. But during the ride there... he couldn't stop thinking about what Steven had said earlier.

Pearl was like a mother to him.

And Steven was right. Of course there may have been that one time where her eagerness to go to space had nearly killed both of them- but she's grown so much since then. The last thing she would want is for Steven to get hurt, or to put her needs in front of his. She really was a good mother to him. He just hoped that he would be able to be a better dad to him as well. He knew for a fact that Pearl had done a much better job at caring for Steven for fifteen years than he did. She literally made a house for him with some help, made food for him every day, cleaned up after him and kept the house organized and habitable, also made sure he wouldn't forget to brush his teeth or turn off the T.V, and most of all- she protected him with her life. Greg had no idea how to fight, and knew he wouldn't be able to protect Steven even if he tried.. and maybe that's why he handed him off to the gems to begin with, but then again.. he's never tried to learn to fight. It defiantly wasn't up his ally, but he did want to be a better dad.

But for now it was time for him to sleep. With so much in his mind, it was actually difficult to put himself at rest.. but it eventually happened.

Meanwhile, Pearl lay on the couch with her eyes wide open. Not sure what to make of what she had just heard. She had been awake since Greg and Steven went up the stairs, and was only actually unconscious for a few seconds- maybe a minute, but not long.

Pearl also had a lot going through her mind- and kept hearing the conversation she overheard in her head.

An overwhelming blush spread on her face as she turned on her back and looked up at the ceiling. She couldn't believe that she had no idea all this time about how Steven felt about her. She always thought Garnet was the one in charge, and if any of them were a mother to Steven- it would be her. It was defiantly a weird feeling, finding out that she was his mother figure. She was so far from perfect, and didn't even know if it was a good idea for Steven to look up to her like that. Being a mother is a huge responsibility, and she didn't know if she could set a good example for Steven or make the right choices. She was positive that if Rose was here, she would have been a perfect mother for Steven. She didn't even have to do anything to be perfect- since in Pearl's eyes, she was always perfect no matter what she did.

But that was then. Now? She wasn't so sure anymore. She still loved Rose, but over the years she's had a lot of time to think about what she had been telling herself and the things Rose asked for her to do. The things that she refused to see because it would ruin her image of Rose. But that image was ruined the day she came up with the crazy idea to start a rebellion against herself. She just realized a little too late.

Pearl kept repeating the same words in her mind ever since she became a rebel.

"Rose is always right."

"She knows what she's doing, and will save everyone."

"Soon everything would be over, and she would be able to live with her on Earth."

"Rose is everything."

"And I'm—"

 _Nothing._ That's what she had been telling herself all those years. It was still hard for her to not be doing something for Rose. It was hard for her to not feel like nothing when standing beside Rose. And even now, whenever she endangered her life, she had thought it was for Rose. It had to be for Rose-

But it was really for Steven.

Steven wasn't perfect, and he defiantly wasn't always sure about what he was doing. But Pearl loved him more than anything just like Greg had said earlier. It wasn't anything like how she felt about Rose, but it was still pure love. A real love she's never felt before until Steven came around.

She didn't have to keep ignoring the unwise things he had done to make him this perfect being- because Steven would never be perfect, and that's something she loved about him. Because she would never be perfect- they were both similar in that one way.

With Steven, she was able to tell him what was right and what was wrong. She was able to have arguments with him and then forgive each other, becoming closer than they already were. She was able to be herself, not having to worry about what Rose thought about her, or what she could possibly do to gain her love and attention.

She didn't have to do anything for Steven to love her. She didn't have to worry how she could get him to love her, because he already did. She never had to worry about Steven hating her, because she knew him well enough to know that he would want to stay close to her. Steven wasn't the kind of person who would avoid someone for days over one fight. He was the kind of person who wanted to fix things as soon as he could, and make sure with every mistake he made, that he would learn and become a better person.

That was something Rose- Pink Diamond, lacked.

She didn't change. She was never able to see things from other peoples perspectives, or even recognize Pearl's love for her despite devoting her entire life to her!

Pearl quickly had to lock that thought away before it overtook her mind. She couldn't think about this now. She couldn't think about how she did everything she possibly could to get Rose to realize how much she loved her- but she never saw that. Garnet, Amethyst, and even Greg saw how much she loved Rose! Why did she-?

"Hey P- you ok?" Amethyst's loud voice broke her sad thoughts, and Pearl opened her glassy eyes which had been closed without her knowing. And tears were also flowing out of her eyes despite her gem no longer having a single drop of water in it.

Amethyst watched as Pearl sat up with a jolt, wiping her tears away quickly with her arm. "I..Im ok. Just.. I was thinking about things.." Pearl sniffed and looked away from the purple gem, embarrassed that she had been caught crying out of emotion.

"Yeah.. sure." Amethyst sighed. "Garnet said she wanted to talk to you. She's out on the beach." She said lazily and slumped on to the couch next to Pearl.

"What? But- Steven can't stay in here by himself at night!" Pearl protested, and was confused to see Amethyst laugh. "No no-I'll stay out here and hold down the fort." She laid down on the couch, flicking her hand and motioning for Pearl to go. The tall gem sighed and this time stood up cautiously, happy that she felt completely fine this time, and took a few slow steps towards the front door.

Once she was out on the dark breezy shore, she turned her head left and right to see if there were any signs of Garnet. It took her a moment or so to notice the square headed gem sitting on the sand closer to the quiet boardwalk. Pearl walked along the scrunching sand, enjoying the calmness of the night and the beautiful stars in the sky. And the bright moonlight giving her a more clear view of the beach in front of her.

When she sat down next to Garnet on the sand, the red gem didn't bother to turn her head to look at Pearl, since she most likely already knew it was her, and was expecting her to begin with. "I see many possibilities every day." Garnet said calm as she continued to look on beyond the ocean, and Pearl followed her gaze and watched the small waves crash in to the shore.

"I saw over a thousand today, and a few of them were about your future." She said as she finally turned to face Pearl, who saw the fusion move her head slightly out of the corner of her eye. Out of politeness, she did the same and looked back at Garnet, trying to focus on eye contact. But all she could see was her own clumsy reflection, glimmering off of her reflective glasses.

"My future..?" Pearl asked uneasily, not sure if Garnet was talking about a good future or a bad one. But her anxiety vanished when she saw the red gem smile in a reassuring way. "Yes. There are different paths and actions you could take that would all lead to different futures. I just want to know which future you're wanting to achieve." Garnet still had the smile on her face, but Pearl now seemed concerned as she replied. "..w..well.. what kind of futures are we talking about?" The pale gem asked, but Garnet just shook her head slowly.

"All futures." She paused for a moment, and then continued. "There are all kinds of outcomes in each of these scenarios, and I don't want to interfere with any of them- unless you're interested in love." Garnet said that last part softly, in a welcoming way that made it sound appealing and interesting… But why love? This just made Pearl more confused than she already was.

"..I have Steven, and all of you." She smiled lightly. "I can't think of anything else I'd want when I already have the best family any Pearl could ever wish for.." The pale gem felt a warmness spread on her face briefly when she remembered the loving family she had. But this wasn't what Garnet was talking about. "Pearl, I mean romantic love." Garnet added, and that changed everything Pearl had been thinking about.

"Romantic love? As in.. a lover..? Like.. Ruby and Sapphire?" The pale gem asked, and Garnet simply nodded. "Me? Finding love? You know I loved Rose- but she isn't here anymore.." Pearl stated in a-matter-of-fact way, but with a bit of sadness in her tone. She knew however, that Garnet couldn't possibly be talking about Rose.

"Not her. Someone else. Some one in Beach City." Garnet hinted to the clueless Pearl, who started to rub her finger in to the sand below nervously. "..Y..you mean that girl that looked like Rose..? She.. wasn't my type. Sure she looked like Rose, but she was nothing like her. And I didn't want to pretend to be someone I'm not just to get her to like me.." Pearl frowned, realizing this too late. "She's in to.. many things that isn't really something I'm in to. And she has a boy friend, so thats out of the question…B-but we are friends!" She said almost sadly, her gaze dropping to the dry sand as she attempted to avert her eyes from Garnet.

The fusion shook her head with the small grin still on her face, as if asking for Pearl to take another guess. But she didn't get the chance, since Garnet had now stood up, and said one last thing before leaving Pearl to ponder out on the beach. "You'll figure it out eventually."


	4. Chapter 4

Possibilities

 _Chapter Four : Love is Worth a Risk_

The following day, Greg woke up to the sound of knuckles hitting metal. Someone was gently knocking on the back doors of his van, and Greg hoped it wasn't a customer. He had a hard time falling asleep last night, and so when he drove to work this morning, he had fallen asleep again on the empty space of his van.

The human glanced over at the golden watch on his wrist, which seemed to have stopped at 7 am this morning. It was clearly around noon by now in Beach City, otherwise the warm sunlight shining through the small windows of the van, exposing all the floating bits of dust wouldn't be there.

Greg crawled over to the back doors of his van, rubbing his tired eye with the back of his hand as he forced back a yawn. The human opened one of the doors and heard someone take a few steps back as it swung it fully open. He squinted at first, not realizing how dark it had been in his van compared to the real world. The sun was pin pointed at the centre of the blue sky, with once again, not a single cloud in sight. Thankfully it wasn't as hot as the other day, but that didn't change the brightness of the sun. Only a few seconds passed before the sting of the bright light faded, and he was able to see clearly as his eyes adjusted to the world.

Pearl was standing there, her hands behind her back with her posture tall and straight as usual. She was looking away from Greg, as if she was uncomfortable just by being in front of him. But she also had a faint teal blue staining her cheeks as her eyes desperately tried to find something else around the area to focus on.

Greg stepped out of the van, stretching before deciding to start up the conversation with this gem warrior. "Hey Pearl! Are you uh.. feeling better?" He asked with genuine concern, having a brief flash back of the time she practically fainted right before his eyes. But Pearl dismissed his question and all of the negative events from yesterday, and responded. "I have your things in my gem, I assume you want them back? And I'd still be happy to finish organizing your van." The thin gem added, finally focusing her blue eyes on the human in front of her.

"Oh.. don't worry about it! I can sort things out if you need to go to gem stuff or get some rest-" He offered to Pearl, who declined it in a hurry. "I don't have anything to do, and.. I promised." She gave him a light smile before taking a few more small steps back as her gem glowed. Greg watched most of his belongings drop on to the concrete ground by his feet as Pearl extracted them from her gem. And once she was done, she had a look of guilt on her face as she rubbed her arm nervously. "There were two boxes of comics and a waffle iron that was burned in the fire.. but everything else should be fine." She had a pleased smile on her face as she bent down and started to rummage through the things that had fallen on to the ground.

Greg kneeled across from her, going through the pile of his belongings as well. "Thank you for doing this! You really didn't have to-" The human thanked Pearl, and he could tell she enjoyed the compliment from the small chuckle she emitted. "Well, I need to complete my end of the deal if I want to see that drawing!" She teased slightly, and reminded Greg of his end of the deal more than her own. He couldn't help but feel a sharp stab of guilt in his heart as he remembered the drawing he had promised to finish. He was supposed to finish it last night, but the sketch lay unfinished on the passenger seat. It was about half done, he really just needed to do some shading and erase the pencil led that was causing the paper to seem grey because of the side of his palm running against it.

Greg replied in a rush. "Right! Um.. I still need to finish it up a bit-" His sentence was cut short by Pearl, who seemed like she had been expecting this. "I can take care of this mess, and you can go finish the drawing.. unless you don't want to finish it.." She said that last part with disappointment in her tone, followed by a small frown. Greg hated seeing her sad, and he wanted more than anything to finish that drawing now and give it to Pearl. Since it was probably the first time ever she had been actually interested in his work, and even asked for something from him to begin with!

"Of course I want to finish it! I really enjoy drawing you-" He quickly shut his mouth. He was never meaning to say 'you' at the end of his sentence. And now he would probably have to explain to Pearl the many many times he had tried to draw her, but was always terrified of being caught since at that time, Pearl was still upset at him and disliked him a lot. But thankfully Pearl just blushed and nodded, keeping focused on the task at hand. The very embarrassed Greg swiftly got up and made his way over to the front of the van and sat in the passenger seat. Grabbing his sketch book he started to work hard on completing the drawing while Pearl organized his belongings.

She was quick to work this morning, easily putting all the items neatly arranged in his no longer empty van. She put the alphabetized books on one side in a neat pile, and then the small mattress on the other. Putting the clean soft sheets on and then puffing up the pillow before laying the blanket over it. She gently moved her flat hands across the fabric, making sure there were no creases.

She probably worked for about an hour before finally finishing her task. All of Greg's belongings were back in his van, neatly stacked to the side. Pearl sat in the middle of it all, clearing her throat to get the humans attention. "I'm finished- I hope this is ok!" She said proudly as Greg turned his head to look over the passenger seat. He was defiantly surprised at how clean his van was, even with all of his belongings inside. "Wow! Thank you so much Pearl!" He said as the gem smiled in response. "It was nothing really." She brushed off the compliment, and watched as Greg clumsily crawled over to the back of the van before sitting across from Pearl. He had his old sketch book in one hand, and looked at it with a blush before turning it around and handing it to the Crystal Gem. "I may have gone a bit over board with the details-" He said shyly as he scratched the back of his head, worried about how Pearl would react.

She took the sketchbook slowly from his hands, looking at the filled paper in amazement. It was like looking in to a mirror. There was a huge improvement from the other drawings she had seen of his older sketches, and she didn't even know that was possible. Pearl could easily say that he was a better artist than her, but she couldn't say that without having drawn something recently herself, and comparing it to this. But even then, nothing could compare to this. He really did go overboard with the details of her hair and clothing, but it just made it look more better and realistic.

It was a full body drawing of her, when before it was just a little sketch of a bust on the paper, now it really looked like a work of art worthy of being in an art gallery. She was simply standing in the middle of the paper with a smile on her face. Her foot horizontally stepped in front of the other like how she would usually stand.

"I love it.." She mumbled as she traced her fingertips across the rough paper, as if she could feel the sketch itself. She just couldn't come to look away from it, and part of her started to wonder if she really looked like this. Or maybe this was how Greg saw her? As some kind of majestic being with a cute smile on her face?

"I'm glad you like it! I-" Before Greg could finish, there was a loud boom somewhere in the distance. It was quieter from where they were, but they could still hear clearly and feel the vibration of the sound.

Pearl was quick to react, as if it was a reflex or instinct, she quickly put the sketchbook in her gem and pulled out her sharp pointed spear, jumping out of the van like a highly alert cat. She seemed tense, and worried. The sound came from the boardwalk, and there were faint human screams off in the distance, followed by a rising dust of sand and bits of wood mixed within it. The gem looked back at Greg, an adrenaline rushing through within her. "I need to go, but you should stay here. It will be safe!" She said before running off with her spear held tightly in her hands.

"Wait Pearl!" Greg got out the van as well, but was too late. She was already half way there, running towards the danger that awaited on the boardwalk.

Why was he worrying so much? Pearl did these kind of things everyday. But seeing everything actually happen- made him realize how dangerous all of this really was.

He could see a long spiked purple arm in the distance like a tentacle, swinging around and causing more debris and sand to cover the view. It was defiantly a corrupted gem, a big one too. A part of him knew that Pearl could easily handle this, but after seeing her so weak yesterday- his mind had its doubts.

Pearl threw her spear straight at the corruption's long spiked arm that was swaying roughly and hitting everything around it. The creature seemed to be in a panic. The pale gem focused on keeping it distracted with her so that the humans on the Boardwalk could run away without getting injured by the beast. She slowly took steps backwards, grabbing a new spear and shooting beams out of it at the monster. It was only mere poking to the corrupted gem, but it was enough to annoy it and get its anger focus at Pearl.

She was able to get the huge purple monster to the shore on the gain-like sand, away from the town where it could do more damage to the structure and the citizens.

The thing looked like a giant purple squid, with sharp jagged crystal shards all over it's body like a porcupine. They reflected the sun light, making it look so sharp and deadly, defiantly enough to kill a human and maybe even shatter a gem.

But Pearl's target was right in the centre of the creatures head- a corrupted Amethyst. Probably got left behind in the war after being made on Earth.

She quickly dodged an attack, leaping up with her long legs and digging her spear in one of its arms whilst avoiding the sharp ends of the spikes spread out along its body. The creature screamed in response, focusing on the odd object that's half way stabbed in to one of its eight arms. Now that Pearl had a better view of the corruption, it looked more like a giant spider than a squid, but whatever it was- it needs to be poofed. So while it was distracted by the pain in its arm, Pearl summoned another spear, aiming for the area around its gem- since its body was also its head.

She was carful not to graze the gem as she threw her spear with a force that caused it to pierce in to the rubbery skin. And Pearl continued to repeat the action whilst stabbing its main body with the spears that she summoned. Garnet had told her that corruptions were oddly more sensitive around their gem, and Pearl could defiantly tell by the way it was screeching and flailing its arms. Uncoordinated and floppy movements as it just swung around all of the arms as if hoping that one of its aimless moves would hit Pearl.

She was starting to struggle at hitting all the arms that came swinging down at her, but all of the sudden something flashed in front of her eyes.

Suddenly a similar spiked whip wrapped around the arm and pulled it back, followed by Garnet jumping out of nowhere and punching the thing on its head. The rubbery soft skin didn't help with the impact, but it seemed to do some damage.

"Where's Steven?!" Pearl shouted as she fought off incoming arms with her spear. Garnet continued to punch the body as she dodged and punched away any spiked arm that came near her with her powerful gauntlets.

Pearl waited for Garnet to answer her important question, but there was no need to. A pink shield came flying right past Pearl's head and sliced through one of the corruptions arm's in half. The other end fell to the ground and poofed as the pink shield circled its way back to its owner like a boomerang. Pearl's gaze followed the shield, and she saw Steven standing on the sand with a determined look on his face.

"I think we need to cut off all of its arms!" He shouted, since he noticed the corruptions movements slow down when his shield sliced the arm. It was very similar to the time-skull he had fought off when he accidentally used the magical hourglass to make comebacks. He remembered that they needed to pull out all of its hair-things, and assumed this would be similar to that. Garnet and Amethyst seemed to agree and quickly got to work. Although for the first time ever, Amethyst seemed hesitant after seeing the purple gem of the corruption glimmer out of the corner of her eye. She had never fought another Amethyst before- but knew it had to be done. Poofing it was the only way to save it. So she swung her whip with its purple spikes, managing to slice off two of its arms. Then Garnet grabbed one of the arms firmly with her gauntlets, and pulled them apart, the other end poofing in to nothingness. Steven threw around his shield like a frisbee, mostly hitting the arms that came for the other gems and protecting their backs.

Unfortunately, when it came down to the last two arms- the creature seemed enraged and suddenly more determined to get rid of the enemies before it. The corruption used a new technique, lifting up its ignored scorpion tail that had been hidden this whole time, and started shooting webs.

It was defiantly a spider corruption now.

Steven was able to protect himself from the blotch of sticky web that was shot at him by using his shield. However Amethyst was quickly immobilized with the web once it stuck to her and the large broken sign resting on the beach.

Only Garnet and Pearl could save them now. So the red gem decided to tackle the web-shooting tail, aiming it away from Pearl as she shouted. "Slice off the rest of its arms!" Garnet said as Pearl nodded, running around the creature as it desperately tried to swing off Garnet and stop Pearl at the same time. The pale gem however was fast, reaching the arm and swinging her spear, sliding it easily as she moved on to the next one. She raised her spear as she approached it, not realizing that she had cut the precious arm too short. It was still long enough to attack her and move around, but she didn't notice. Garnet did and tried to warn her. "PEARL! Look out!" She yelled, but by the time Pearl turned her head to look over her shoulder- the spiked arm was speeding her way. Steven tried desperately to throw his shield at the spiky arm, but it wouldn't hit it in time! He threw it too late, and his aim was too sloppy from the panic. There was no time for Pearl dodge it, and her spear wouldn't stop it from this angle. Everything happened in a split second- she had closed her eyes and prepared for the painful contact-

But it never came.

She tumbled on to the sand, laying down as her spear rolled out of her hand. When Garnet saw that Pearl was safe, she used all her strength to rip the tail off. It was harder than she had assumed- especially with the two arms coming her way. But once again, Steven's pink shield swung around her like a boomerang, hitting the first arm and then the other one.

And the next thing she knew, she was holding nothing in her arms. It poofed.

And when it poofed, the spiderwebs also disappeared, and Amethyst ran towards the gem and bubbled it quickly with her purple bubble. Steven sighed of relief and sat down on the shore as his shield faded. Garnet landed on her two feet as her well used gauntlets disappeared. She looked over at the tired Steven and gave him a thumbs up. "Good job!" She complimented him with a smile, and the boy embarrassingly smiled back with a bead of sweat trailing down the side of his forehead.

Pearl opened her eyes, still unsure of what exactly happened- but then to her surprise, she saw Greg looming over her with a slight scratch on his cheek. "Y-you ok?!" He asked, out of breath as he looked down at the pale gem underneath him.

Pearl was speechless, and didn't know how to react. Should she anticipate the position they were in, or the fact that Greg had just saved her from possible harm? Greg seemed to notice the position as well, and quickly backed up with a small blush, standing up as he held out a hand for Pearl. Who took it hesitantly and stood up.

As her spear disintegrated, she dusted the sand off of her clothes and looked at Greg sternly. "Why did you do that?!" She asked in a more aggressive tone than she had expected. The human was also taken back, raising his hands to shoulder length as if it would calm down Pearl.

"I just- saw you almost get hit and couldn't stand still and watch!" He replied honestly, but it just seemed to make Pearl more upset. "You could have DIED!" She shouted at him, saying that last word longer. She couldn't believe he had done that- she would have been just fine. Greg might of met his end because he thought she couldn't take a single hit. She couldn't believe he had just tossed his life around to save her.

"I know! But- you're so much more important than me! The other gems and Steven need you! And the whole of Beach City needs you!" He said in a slightly louder tone, trying not to come off as aggressive but more.. rational.

Pearl shook her head, clenching her fists tightly, trying her best to not swing a punch as much as she wanted to. "Don't say that! Steven needs you more than anything! A..and..I need you too!" Pearl replied hesitantly, trying to hold back the blush that desperately wanted to appear on her cheeks. But it actually took her a moment after she responded to replay what Greg had just said.

That she was more important than him.

...Was this what Rose felt like? Pearl remembered saying those exact same words to her in battle. Willing to throw her own life away so that Rose wouldn't get hurt, because she loved her. She loved her so much, she couldn't bare to just stand and watch as an enemy attacked her and tried to hurt her. She had to do something, even if it meant her own shattering. Rose was more important than her in her mind- but now Pearl felt like she was in Rose's shoes. How could she possibly tell Greg that they were both equally important, when the roles have just been reversed?

"Pearl.. you know I can't exactly fight- or do anything to help anyone..." He sighed with a frown, and the pale gem felt his sadness. That's exactly how she had felt when she didn't know how to fight. She had to train herself so that she could protect Rose. And yet.. she felt like the 'fighting' never gave her the answer she was looking for.

"Well.. you help Steven, by being his dad and being with him so he can enjoy his human life! And.. you've helped me a lot too. You don't have to fight to be helpful.." She couldn't hide the blush anymore, averting her eyes so that she would possibly be less embarrassed about what she had just said to him.

"..wow.. I..I guess you're right! But- Wait- I've helped you?" He seemed confused, unable to recall any moment where he had been actually useful to Pearl.

"Of course you have! Y..you always make me feel better and understand how I feel better then any human on Earth! And despite me being so.. cruel to you all these years- you still tried to be my friend... but-" She quickly shook her head, going back to the original topic.

"How could you be so stupid?! I wouldn't be able to live with myself if you had died just to stop me from getting a hit!" She heard her own shakiness in her voice as she shouted. She was angry, and sad.. upset in general. She couldn't understand his reckless behaviour- she already had a hard time understanding Amethyst, but she was a gem. She wasn't as fragile as he was. She was just so.. so-

Upset at him.

Was Rose always upset like this when ever she saved her from an enemy? Is that why Rose never loved her? Because Pearl saving her in battle would make her upset like how she was currently upset with Greg?

To think that every time Pearl had saved Rose... She felt like this. Right now, Pearl was feeling so many things about Greg. She felt like punching him in the face and yelling at him for being so stupid. She felt like locking him away so that he would be safe and sound. She felt so mad at him for doing something she didn't like. She felt stressed about how Greg could even think like this- how he could think that protecting her at the expense of his life would make her happy?

This is what Rose had felt. No wonder she didn't love her. No wonder Pearl never saw that loving look on Rose's face that she always gave to Greg- but not her. Of course, this all made sense. Rose hated when Pearl protected her. And yet, Pearl had done it over and over and over again- not even acknowledging how Rose felt about her actions. Pearl even bragged about it to Greg when he had come in to her life- when really it was nothing to brag about, since the whole time it was something Rose didn't like her doing. When all this time- Pearl had thought that by protecting Rose, she would see how much she loved her.

"Pearl!"

Greg's shouting snapped her out of her thoughts, and she felt the tears in her eyes for the first time. The human had both of his hands on her shoulders, as if he had been shaking her. He looked in to her eyes with worry, but then looked away, feeling guilty. "I'm so sorry... I didn't mean to make you upset!" Greg apologized, but all Pearl heard was her own voice, apologizing to Rose. If Pearl had the chance, she would have said those exact same words to Rose-

"I know how you feel." Pearl replied with tears still coming out of her eyes. "I felt the same way too.." She smiled through tears, suddenly hugging the human tightly. The gem buried her teary face in to his shoulder, crying and trembling slightly.

Greg was confused at first, but returned the hug. He gently rubbed her back, comforting her- and glad that it was working since he felt her trembling come to a stop. Her crying also seemed to have calmed down, and when she next spoke, the shakiness in her voice was also gone. "..I'm just glad you're ok.." She mumbled quietly, ending the hug and moving back slightly. "..you're hurt." She frowned, gently tracing her thumb along the small scar on his cheek. The human seemed nervous, and blushed at the gesture- since he could say she was caressing his cheek. He was even a little sad when her hand moved away.

Pearl wiped the remaining signs of tears off of her face, and turned around to start walking to Steven- who seemed to be having a pleasant conversation with Garnet and Amethyst. She had caught the end of their conversation just as she approached. She heard Steven say "So you'll tell me later?!" to Garnet, but every one shut their mouths when Pearl approached. "Steven, Greg needs your help." She smiled lightly before walking past him, calming herself down as she walked along the beach and made her way back home.

Steven ran over to his dad while Garnet and Amethyst continued their conversation.

"Why can't you tell me Garnet!" Amethyst whined, crossing her arms and giving the fusion a stubborn look.

"Because you will interfere with the events of the future." She chuckled, knowing that if she told Amethyst what future she had seen- the purple gem would go off and probably tell everyone. And then make fun of Pearl to the point where she stops that possible future from ever happening.

"Well- so I find out sometime in the future?" Amethyst asked, and Garnet nodded. "Eventually, yes." She replied simply as Amethyst smiled, and the two gems started heading back to the beach house while Steven went to go check up on his dad. He had tried to run up to his dad earlier, but Garnet stopped him and said that Greg needed to chat with Pearl for a bit.

"So what happened with Pearl..?" Steven asked as he sat on the sand next to his dad. He had healed his small scar, and was now curious as to what his dad had been talking about with Pearl, since he could only hear faint shouting and see some gestures from where he had been standing with Garnet and Amethyst.

"Pearl just.. got a little upset at me. I don't think she's used to being saved... by a human." Greg sighed, adding that last part since he knew Pearl had been 'saved' by other gems before. Steven nodded, understanding what his dad meant- since he lived with Pearl, he knew she probably would be mad at Steven if he tried to save her by risking his life. But probably worried too.

"This might be a weird question dad... but why did you save her? I've never seen you willingly walk in to a battle with a corruption!" Steven chuckled slightly, watching as his dad scratched the back of his head uneasily. "..W-well.. I followed her to the boardwalk because I was worried. She was so weak yesterday- I wasn't sure if she would be able to fight that thing alone... and when I arrived, I saw Amethyst stuck on a shop-sign, Garnet wrestling a huge tail, and you were using your shield to protect yourself from the spiked arms." Greg said as he frowned at the memory. "And then I saw one of those arms speeding towards Pearl- I saw my chance to help her and I guess I just took it.." He shrugged slightly, and Steven understood.

"Yeah I probably would have done the same!" He said with a smile, and now it was Greg's turn to ask questions. "So what were you talking about with Garnet and Amethyst? Seemed like a pretty interesting conversation!"

Steven seemed to lighten up, as if happy to answer his question. "Oh that! Well- Garnet said she saw an awesome future for Pearl, and I really wanted to know what it is! But she wouldn't tell me... but then she said she can tell me later, but I don't know when later is!" He sighed. "I have some theories- like maybe Pearl will finally get that gem artifact that she's been wanting to get! Or maybe she gets another cool weapon enhancement from Bismuth! Oh or- she finds a way to find all the corruptions on Earth at once!" He said excitedly, and his dad chuckled.

"Well I hope she gets one of those futures! She defiantly deserves it." He added as he got up with a stretch. "I should head back to the car wash- but I have a day off tomorrow if you want to go have lunch or go to that rock concert that I missed last year!" He seemed excited, and so did Steven.

"Yeah! Let's go to the rock concert!"


	5. Chapter 5

Possibilities

 _Chapter Five : Letting It Happen_

Steven excitedly hopped on to the round warp pad with Garnet, saying his quick good byes to Pearl and Amethyst who were in the room before the light engulfed him.

"Where are we going?" He asked Garnet, who stepped off the warp pad as soon as they warped to the ruins of The Cloud Arena. Similar to The Ancient Sky Arena where Pearl liked to train, this arena was floating in the sky- but was still intact for a ruin. Only a few pale pillars were crumbled at the base, but other than that the place was quiet and clean.

The boy followed the quiet Garnet to the stone benches spread out around the arena, sitting down next to her when she decided where to sit. "So are you going to tell me the cool future you saw?" He asked eagerly as he looked over at Garnet with a smile, his hands on the seat as he swung his legs back and forth excitedly. The fusion chuckled, finding Steven's enthusiasm cute and maybe funny. "Yes. But before I tell you, you must promise me one thing." Garnet replied in a more strict and serious tone, making Steven's legs come to a halt as he nodded.

"You can't tell anyone, or do something that might change the course of her future." Garnet said to Steven, who anticipated it rather quickly. "I promise!" Was all he said to make Garnet's smile return. "Good." She seemed pretty reassured now, and so started to spill the beans.

"I'm sure you remember that hot sunny day we all helped Greg clean out his van." She paused, watching Steven nod with a short "Mhm." before she continued. "You and Amethyst were there when it happened. When your father gave Pearl the sketch he had drawn of her and you." She said as Steven remembered the exact moment, and was actually surprised Pearl accepted his dad's gift and took it with her. "The second he handed her that drawing, a gate of a thousand possibilities opened for Pearl." Garnet remembered the moment as well. Her shocked eyes snapped open as she froze, processing all the possibilities whilst trying to act casual in front of everyone- which she was relatively good at.

"There is a slim chance that Pearl will fall in love." She smiled, watching Steven's eyes sparkle like stars. He gasped in shock, all of his own possibilities racing through his mind.

"Who?! Who is she going to marry?!" Steven jumped on his seat, eagerly wanting to hear who this gem or person could be. He was so clueless-

"Whoa, don't jump in to things Steven. Love takes time, and marriage takes even more time. Even I can't see that far in to her future." She chuckled. "This person she might love.. is very close to you. All the futures I see are you being excited for them- but some too excited. You must keep calm and let things happen slowly." Garnet ordered, and the boy nodded once again.

"You can count on me! So who is it?! Some one I'm close to? …w…wait…" An obvious switch in his brain clicked in to place as he started to connect the dots. It was so clear, he couldn't believe he didn't realize this till now. Steven gasped again, the excitement for another 'Universe' was something new for him- something he now wasn't so sure he could contain. He looked at Garnet with starry-pupils and said in a surprisingly quiet tone. "I..it's dad, isn't it?!" He asked, and was happy to see Garnet nod. "Omgeezz! Pearl and dad- This.. this is amazing! Pearl's actually going to be my mom!" Steven laughed, jumping around excitedly and then eventually sat back down on his seat next to Garnet.

"Don't get your hopes up too high Steven. There are some futures where that doesn't happen- but I thought I'd tell you because most of them do involve Pearl and Greg getting together. And I just want you to be prepared for that when the time comes." She said calmly, hoping that her casualness would tone down Steven's excitement, despite her being so overly excited for the new soon-to-be couple as well.

"I know- it's just.. I can't believe it! Seeing Pearl and dad get along was one thing, but this- this is just great! Oh I need to tell Connie!" He said as he tried to pull out his phone from the back pocket of his blue jeans, but Garnet grabbed his arm at the speed of light.

"No! You can't tell anyone. It could change everything!" Garnet couldn't even begin to list all the ways that things could go wrong if Steven told a single soul. Except Lion. That would be fine.

When Garnet let go of his arm, Steven quickly moved his hand away from his pocket, a slight blush of embarrassment on his face. "..O-oh Yeah! Right." He took a deep breath and tried to push the excitement aside, since he had a lot of questions to ask. And Garnet knew. She couldn't only answer a few of them, since answering more may result in Steven doing something that he may regret if he wants Pearl and Greg to end up together.

"I'm just worried about one thing..." Steven said with a frown as he slouched on his seat, and the fusion picked up on his sudden sadness and uneasiness. She wasn't expecting to hear this question at all.

"..I.. is there a future where Pearl disappears because.. b..because she has a baby?" He asked with nearly-watery eyes, stuttering slightly. The very thought of her disappearing scared him.

"Steven..." Garnet sighed, putting an arm around him and giving him a reassuring hug. "I can't see that far in to the future.. and I really hope it doesn't come down to that. But if it does, we need to respect her decision. Even though it's highly unlikely since she never wants to leave your side." Her smile returned. "And unlike Rose, she would never leave her lover behind. Greg's already been though it once.. and she's already been through it once. Pearl understands how painful it was when your mother left. She would never do that to Greg, or you- or any of us. Don't worry." It was all Garnet could say to keep Steven's spirits up. And despite what she had said, even she didn't want Pearl to ever have a baby. If she saw a single hint of a future vision leading to that path- she would need to interfere. She couldn't afford to lose another Crystal Gem, and be left behind with a hybrid baby.

"I'll try not to worry.. but you're right! Pearl would probably never even think about having a baby." Steven smiled- but then felt his phone vibrate. He pulled it out from his pocket, reading the text and then turning to face Garnet. "I need to go! Me and dad are going to this rock concert with Amethyst. Do you want to come too? I went last year with Pearl and Amethyst, it was really fun!" The boy said as he stood up on his two feet, but Garnet shook her head. "I'll pass. I need to water the cat soon."

"Alright, I'll see you later!" Steven waved and left The Ancient Could Arena, quickly warping back home and running out the house. His dad has said he was waiting for him outside with his van, and he was right. Steven ran up to the ledge of the wooden porch, hoping to wave at his dad and Amethyst-

But his heart dropped when he saw Pearl.

She was coming too- and there's a high chance that pink-haired mystery girl would be there again this year. "..oh boy.." He mumbled as he slowly and awkwardly made his way down the creaky steps, then jogged down the slope until he reached the three of them.

"Hey stchu-ball! Pearl decided to come with us last minute, apparently a friend of hers is going too." Greg smiled and looked over at Pearl, who blushed briefly before responding. "Yes. The girl we met last year- now that I have a cell phone I sent her a text and asked if she was going, and she said she was so I thought- I thought I should tag along. I haven't seen her for a while." And she's single now- was the part that Pearl didn't say. She wasn't sure if her being single would change anything since their personalities didn't exactly 'click'. But it was always worth a try, and Garnet had told her that she would find love in her future. She hoped to make that future real, since she did want love in her life.

But what Garnet didn't tell her was who.

Steven nervously nodded and walked in the van stiffly. The back seats were up, so he sat in the back as he saw Amethyst making her way to the front seat. Maybe he could do something to help his dad and Pearl, even if it was a small gesture.

"Amethyst! I uh.. have this funny video I want to show you on my phone!" Steven tried to sound less nervous as he pulled out his phone from his pocket. The curious purple gem climbed over to the back seat and sat down next to him. "Ooo lemme see! Is it gross?!" She laughed, watching the phone screen, and Steven tried to think of the kind of humor Amethyst would like. But all that mattered was that his mission was a success. Amethyst sat in the back with him while Pearl sat in the passenger seat next to his dad, who was driving.

When the van started to move, Steven played the 'funny' video on his phone of the dog running in to a wall in its sleep. The boy didn't really like seeing the dog get hurt, but Amethyst started bursting with laughter and asked him to reply the video of the sleep-running dog. Steven played it again for her, but his gaze was no longer locked on to the screen. He was looking over at the two adults in the front of the car. Pearl seemed quiet, and was looking at the scenery beyond the window as if she was deep in thought. While his dad concentrated on the road ahead, since driving at night was a little difficult with an old van and nearly no street lights ahead. Steven wished they would have some kind of conversation, but he remembered that he needed to come up with a plan. A plan to make sure his dad and Pearl had a good time together at the rock-party. The last thing he wanted was for both of them to part ways. Then Pearl would most likely spend time with that mystery girl, while his dad would be cheering on the band that was playing. Who knows, his dad might even join playing or singing with them if he felt like it.

But now Steven started to struggle. He wanted both Pearl and his dad to have fun, but he wanted them to have fun together. It didn't seem right for him to get Pearl away from the mystery girl, and his dad away from the crazy rock band when that's what both of them wanted to do and see. Garnet had said strictly not to interfere with the future, and let things play out. The boy just had to trust that she was right, despite his thoughts telling him otherwise. He really wanted to do something to help both of them get together- but maybe things would play out fine? Maybe Pearl would realize that the mystery girl has brought other friends and decide to go hang out with his dad? Pearl didn't exactly like hanging out with a group of strangers who all seemed to be in to the opposite things Pearl was in to. Or maybe his dad would want to meet the mystery girl and then all the three of them could hang out? Steven hated that he had to sit back and watch, and hope, that things would turn out fine. He can't interfere. He needed to let everything happen.

When the four of them arrived at the house of the party outside, Greg parked the van in front of the house behind a line of other parked cars. He got out and then locked the van up once everyone had stepped out and closed the doors behind them.

It was a coincidence that the first person Pearl saw in the crowd ahead was the mystery girl. Her pink hair stood out from the other party-goers, and Pearl was already making her way towards her after saying "I'll be right back." as if meaning that she would be back once the party was over. She was gone in an instant, and when Steven turned to look at his dad- he was already standing in the crowd in front of the band that was playing in the front yard. Everything was just as he predicted, and all he had was Amethyst, who seemed eager to try all the food and drinks at the party.

"Come on Steven!" She practically grabbed his arm and dragged him on through the brief blotch of darkness and in to the dim lights around the house. Once the two were on the property, the purple gem located the food table within a second. She rushed over and looked at all the delicious treats with drool coming out of her mouth. "This is gunna be great!" She chuckled madly to herself and let go of her tight grip on Steven's arm, then started grabbing a little bit of everything and putting them on a paper plate that was stacked on the corner of the table. She took a chunk of everything, turning back to Steven briefly and looking at him as if he was supposed to be doing something obvious.

"What's the hold up? Too much food for you?" She asked the boy, realizing his hesitation and unsure look. But Steven quickly shook his head, putting on a fake smile as he replied. "Oh! Uh.. I'm just not sure which one to pick! I'll try this-" He picked up a small vanilla cupcake. It had blue icing and mini sugar-coated music notes on it. Steven took a bite, and Amethyst seemed pleased to know that she wasn't the only one eating. She continued to stack a mountain on her plate, while Steven nibbled on the spongey cupcake. He watched Pearl from afar as she approached the pink haired human and started to talk to her.

"Sup Pearl?" She said with a smile as she dropped her cigarette to the ground and squished it with her foot. She knew Pearl didn't like being near lit cigarettes since she always cringed at the smell it left on her breath. Of course she wasn't going to stop smoking, but Pearl was her friend. She could hold off for a bit.

"Oh not much really, just another busy day bubbling corrupted gems!" Pearl laughed nervously and waved her hand around as if it were nothing, slightly wanting to show off in front of this girl and maybe impress her. But Pearl had no idea the mystery girl didn't take any of what she said seriously. The girl, also named Romona, enjoyed Pearl's company and happy personality, but never actually believed her when she said she saves the world for a living. Since Romona didn't exactly live in Beach City, she never really saw all the gem things that would happen every now and then. She only came to Beach City for its awesome parties and to see her friends.

"Sounds cool. Hey, I'm going to go in the soda-drinking contest soon. Wanna join?" She asked with a smirk, which Pearl found kinda attractive and maybe mistook it for flirting. Her cheeks flushed blue, and as much as she wanted to say yes- she had her doubts.

"What will the winner get?" The gem asked, hoping it wasn't something she'd actually be interested in. But Romona had an appealing answer. "Well there's only really me and two other people who are gunna do it. If those guys win, I have to go to the Big Donut and buy them donuts. If I win, they are gunna be the ones buying me donuts." She chuckled, excited about the little contest. Since whenever she came to Beach City, she couldn't leave without having at least one donut from the Big Donut. It was one of the best things she's ever eaten that could only be found in a small store in Beach City. "And if you win- I'll get you some donuts!" She pat her back pocket, where her cash-filled wallet was stored safely.

Pearl in the meantime, was trying to listen to both of the voices in her light manipulated brain. Part of her said 'No!', while the other part said 'Yes!'. Going to the Big Donut with Romona, together.. would it be like a date? Pearl didn't know, but she did know Romona rarely came to Beach City, and she may never have this chance again! Of course she didn't like eating or drinking, but getting to spend time with Romona outside of a party was something that she defiantly wanted to do. If a few drinks of soda was all it took, she decided was up for the challenge. Pearl smiled determinedly and nodded. "Ok. Lets do this!" She said with an eagerness in her tone. She flinched a bit when she felt a large hand slap her back in a friendly way, but blushed when she realized it was Romona.

"Yeah! That's the spirit! But I highly doubt you'd beat me!" Romona teased and walked with Pearl over to the small cool-box resting out on the quiet side of the house on the grass. Her two friends were already there, preparing out the soda cans on the small plastic table in front of them. There was one guy, and one girl. Both of them had colored hair and many piercings with black leather clothing and a bit of make up on their faces.

Once they all got settled and said their quick hellos and introductions, the male human known as Duke, started explaining the rules. "First one to finish five cans of this super fizzy soda is the winner! The losers have to buy the winner donuts tomorrow from the Big Donut. All good?" He asked- and now Pearl wanted to bail. The 'losers' would buy the winner donuts? Would that mean it would be her and these two friends would be going with Romona? She would be left out again- since whenever Pearl wasn't with Romona alone, she was always the odd one out. Just standing quietly while watching her crush laugh and talk along with her other friends. It wasn't fun, and Pearl very much preferred hanging out with Romona alone.

But it was too late for that.

Duke had placed five full soda cans in front of all of them on the table. Pearl heard someone in the background holler out something, and all she could pick up was "Soda Contest!" And before she knew it, a small crowd of wild teens and a few adults had formed around them. Romona seemed excited about it, and was hyping up the crowd and telling every one to cheer for her. But all Pearl felt were the human eyes glaring down at her as if navigating every imperfection she had.

"Pearl!"

The voice of Steven stood out as he squeezed through the many moving bodies through the crowd, and jumped out in the middle opening, where Pearl was standing nervously. The boy had a frown on his face, looking around and then looking up at Pearl as she turned around to face him. "W-what's going on?" He asked as if he was afraid, since he was clueless as to why all these adults and teenagers were cheering at Pearl and her friends when they haven't done anything.

"..I.. may have entreated some kind of soda drinking contest.." She sighed with deep regret, trying to speak over the many voices of the crowd. "I shouldn't have done this.." she mumbled, saying it a bit too late. However to Steven, it was never too late. He replied with a sincere look on his face, shouting slightly so that Pearl could hear him more clearly. "Then why don't you drop out? If you don't want to do it you don't have to!" He explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, but to Pearl it wasn't that easy. "Steven- I can't! I told Romona I would participate... a..and.. I don't want to make her upset!" The thin gem panicked, fighting her own needs to make Romona happy.

Steven's frown grew, still with that sad look in his adorable eyes. "But if making her happy means you being upset- is it really worth it?" He protested, and Pearl thought for a moment. But it was all too late. Steven felt a firm hand grab his arm and pull him back in to the crowd swiftly, he even hit a few people by accident and replied with a quick "Sorry!" Before continuing to be dragged back by a mysterious long arm. Pearl in the meantime, quickly snapped her attention back to the five cans of water-drop coated soda in front of her on the table. She's never been so scared of soda until now.

Amethyst had stretched her arm, and pulled Steven to the back of the crowd where she was were it was empty and quieter. When Steven was standing in front of her she let go. "Hey what's going on?! What's Pearl doing there?" She asked over the many voices, and Steven noticed Greg was behind Amethyst, seeming just as worried as he was.

"She entered a soda drinking contest to make Romona happy! The uh.. girl with the pink hair!" Steven frowned. "Pearl is going to try and drink five cans of super fizzy soda!" He said in a worry, but Amethyst grinned widely and ran as fast as she could through the shifting crowd to the front whilst saying "Oh man I gotta see this!" And she was gone.

Steven looked up at his dad with a worried look on his face, and Greg gave him the same look back. Both of them knew this wasn't a good idea, but there was no stopping it now.

Someone started shouting out the count down, going from five to one.. and as the crowd roared and cheered, the competition began.


	6. Chapter 6

Possibilities

 _Chapter Six : Mystery Lover_

The bubbly fizz stung as it poured down Pearl's thin and delicate throat. Her grip was tight on the ice-cold wet soda can, while her other hand was clenched in a hard fist. The gem's whole body was tense, and the clenching of her free hand got worse by the second. What was even more worse was her having a hard time to get the burning liquid past her tongue. While a large crowd of human made an awfully loud noise and watched her as if she was fighting in an area, which she very much preferred. Pearl felt completely embarrassed, her body trembling as her eyes closed tight. A bead of sweat trickled down the right side of her smooth forehead and she tried her best to keep her composure. She had already made a fool of herself by struggling to open up the first can of soda, nearly cutting her thin finger in the process and almost letting the can slip right out of her grasp. She had to follow through with this contest now, and luckily she was already half way done with her first burning drink. Pearl seemed to be going at the same pace as the others in the contest, she just wished she could look as relaxed and calm as they were while she chugged down the bubbling soda.

She could her the clanking sounds of hollow soda cans being slammed on to the plastic table shaking below her. The other three were done with their first drinks and were on their second ones. Pearl desperately chugged down more of the liquid, trying so hard to ignore the feeling of sharp claws slowly tearing down her throat. It was getting more painful the more she drank, but there was no way she could bail now. She had already told Romona that she was an ancient gem warrior that fought in The Gem War and saves the Earth nearly everyday from corrupted gems causing havoc. In her mind, if she even lost this competition, Romona was bound to think of her as weak, and maybe even think that she was lying about the whole being-a-warrior thing in general! A gem like her should be able to handle a bit of soda. Even Amethyst could do it, so she had to be able to do it. She had to win this to prove that she was strong.

Pearl crushed the empty can with a tight grip once she finished. It crumbled in her hand like a piece of paper, and she set it down to quickly grab her next cold drink and pop the can open. The pale gem cringed as she brought it to her mouth and started chugging and wincing while doing so. She was finally catching up, but then started to notice the volume of the cheering crowd lower. They were still loud but quieter than before, and their pumped-up hand movements slowed down as their wide eyes fell upon Pearl. The gem could feel the glares and odd-looks she got from the quieter audience despite her eyes being closed. But right now, she had more important things to focus on and could careless with this new determination of proving herself strong. Even the three contestants around the plastic table watched in awe as she continued to chug, and briefly stopped drinking to watch. Pearl didn't notice this, and all she wanted was to finish this can and move on to the next one.

"We should stop her-!" Greg said as he watched from the shifting shadows of party-goers, standing beside his son nervously while Amethyst was somewhere near the centre of the gathering with her phone out. She was so blown away at the sight of the progressive bloating on Pearl's thin frame. It was as if her stomach was a water ballon that was slowly being filled up and expanding.

The scene that played out was enough to make Greg and Steven worry more. Her stomach shouldn't be bulging out like that, even if it's a small bump, it couldn't be good. The teal hem of her uniform started to expose the pale skin underneath as she continued to fill herself full of fizzing soda. The very feeling make Pearl feel sick, but she's seen and felt worse. She had to keep telling herself that to defeat the nausea boiling up in her stomach, begging her to puke out this carbonated human drink. And that is exactly what Greg was worried about- he didn't want Pearl to make herself get horribly sick right after she recovered from that parasite being in her gem. Part of him would also blame himself if Pearl ended up getting sick again because of him. He invited her to this crazy party, and he drove her here in his van- if she threw up now in front of everyone's eyes, it would be his fault to him.

Steven worried about the same thing, but the thing that was scaring him most was the unnatural round bump that was on Pearl's stomach. It looked too much like a baby bump, and the last thing he wanted was for Pearl to get pregnant! He knew it wasn't happening, and that it wasn't even possible- but seeing this is like seeing a part of his nightmares come true. He didn't want to loose Pearl, and he defiantly didn't want her to go through the pain of being pregnant.

Now Pearl was suddenly on her final drink, the strain of her clothes getting tighter to the point where she started to feel it more than before, and the gem knew very well that Pearl's weren't made to consume things. Ever.

Her body structure wasn't supposed to be able to handle such large amounts of food or drinks. She was a gem, and her petite frame was only for the soul purpose of being elegant and efficient on her two feet. The lighter the Pearl's were, the more gracefully they could move and get things done. And the more she thought of it, more pain started to spread across her swollen belly. She could have sworn she felt her physical form glitch for a brief moment- but there was only a few large sips left. She kept telling herself:

Ignore the pain.

Do it for her. For Romona.

They need to know I'm strong.

However, the words didn't keep her nausea at bay. She felt herself sway a bit, which caused her to pause in her soda-chugging. That lead to her swift defeat, as she heard Romona shout "DONE!" followed by a roaring group of humans crowding around her and celebrating.

Now that every one was focused and gathered around Romona, she found herself fast-walking right through the dark escape-rout away from all the blurry people. Swaying on her feet as she stumbled away from the piercing lights of the house and through two large bushes. She could have sworn she saw a brief purple blur pass her, followed by Amethyst's voice saying "Where you going P?" But she had ignored it, too focused on getting to a dark and quiet area were she could be alone just in case she fainted or her stomach decided to turn on her.

Steven watched her disappear through the green leaf covered bushes, and Amethyst walked towards him with a frown and a shrug. "I think she's gunna blow. I wouldn't go near her if I were you.." The purple gem suggested, since even she didn't like witnessing people throw up. Steven didn't like it ether, but he's experienced throwing up to know that it was painful and may even be panicking to someone like Pearl. He wanted to go after her, and make sure she was ok- but just as he was about to take a step forward, he felt a large hand rest on his shoulder. It stopped him from continuing his steps, and he felt his body relax when he noticed it was his dad.

"I'll go." Greg said with a drop of sweat trailing down the side of his forehead. He was nervous, but he wasn't going to let Pearl be out there alone when she was sick. The human moved his hand away while walking past Steven, and briefly turned back. "Stay here with Amethyst, ok? I'll be right back!" He gave his son a reassuring smile. The music started playing loudly again as the band members went back on stage and started playing. Steven nodded, and watched his dad go through the bushes and after Pearl. The boy crossed his fingers and hoped that things would go well.

The slender gem swayed with each step she took away from the lights of the party. Pearl didn't realize how far away she had walked until now, since what lay before her was empty dark fields and a starry night sky. The sound of happy voices and pop music had faded down to nothing but a small noise in the distance. What was loud now was the cries of crickets hiding in the grass around her, and the whizzing of a cool summer night breeze.

As Pearl's vision slowly started to un-blur, she felt heavy and defiantly felt the sickness stirring up inside her round belly. She looked around with tired eyes for something she could lean on, or maybe even sit down on. The gem stopped in her tracks as she attempted to find something to support herself, since she didn't know how much longer she could stand on her own. Thankfully she spotted a lonely tree standing tall in the darkness, that she could potentially lean against. It wasn't far from were she stood, so she started walking towards it- but the first step she took would be her last step for the night. The sudden movement made her cringe as she felt the large amount of soda shift forward in her body. She swayed and stumbled forward, expecting to hit the grassy Earth underneath her. Instead she felt herself leaning against another body, steadying herself as gentle arms helped her. This all felt like a bit of dejavu to both of them, but the good kind of dejavu.

"Pearl?" Greg asked through her haziness as he held the gem against him. All of her weight was now being supported by the human, and she felt much better now that she didn't have to carry herself around. Pearl sighed of relief, closing her eyes and letting herself rest a bit.

"Greg." She said more coldly than expected, but she still clung on to him for dear life. The gem was so focused on keeping the soda down, she hardly noticed the large hands on her hips, holding her in place as her upper half leaned in to her new living weight-supporter.

The human looked around and took a few slow steps away from the wide road while helping Pearl along. "Why don't we sit for a while?" It was more of a statement than a question, and he quickly helped the gem over to the tree. Watching her sit down as she kept her tight grip on his arm as she did so. But once she was sat on the grass and leaned back against the rough cedar bark of the tree, she let go and closed her eyes again. He was relieved to see Pearl somewhat safe, and sat down next to her with a friendly smile.

"I have some medicine for nausea back in the van-… I don't know if it will work on gems though.." his smile faded, but then Pearl smiled lightly, opening her blue eyes to meet his gaze and turning her head ever so slightly. "I think if I consume anything else, I'll defiantly... regurgitate..." the gem sighed, looking up at the purplish black sky as if keeping her head up would help the sickness creeping up her throat go all the way back down. Greg followed her gaze, and looked up at the small bright dots in the blanket of darkness above them.

"I wanted to ask.. but why did you enter a soda drinking contest? It doesn't seem like something you'd want to do.." Greg asked, already getting a good idea of what her answer was, but asked anyway. He briefly glanced at Pearl as she pursed her lips and blushed a slight blue.

"I was.. irrational." She let out another sigh. "Garnet told me that.. that I would soon find love. After all these years of getting over Rose- I thought maybe Romona was the one. She said if I won this silly contest, that we could go out to the Big Donut together..." She looked down, disappointed in herself for becoming this bloated for nothing. "And..." She gulped, uneasy about saying this next part. "I wanted Romona to know that I'm strong. I've told her about how I fight corrupted gems and fought in The Gem War- if I couldn't handle a bit of soda, what would she think of me?" The gem started to worry. "She'll think I've been lying, or that I'm weak for not being able to win this competition! How am I to say I'm a strong warrior when I can't even drink five cans of soda?!" She flailed her arms in the air a bit and hit her head back on the tree bark on purpose, hating herself. "And now I've made a fool of myself in front of her and all her friends! She'll.. never want to hang out with me.." the anger towards herself disappeared, and was replaced by sadness and emptiness. She wanted more than anything to bring her knees up to her face and wrap her arms around them, burying her face so that Greg wouldn't have to see her, since she felt so embarrassed after saying that.

"Pearl- you don't have to drink soda to prove that you're strong! I've seen you fight, and I've seen you do so many other things that are way more better then having to chug soda!" He chuckled a little. "Like drawing, cooking, cleaning, driving, and arranging events for Steven! Those are.. small human things that you don't have to do, but you do them anyway and your really good at it!" The human blushed, and so did Pearl. "We all have things we're good at, and being good at drinking soda is nothing compared to the things you do! Don't beat yourself up about this... ok?" He said in a friendly tone with a smile, debating for a second if he should give her a reassuring pat on the back, but then remembered how queasy she was feeling and figured it wasn't a good idea. Plus, she may not want him to touch her at all.

Pearl still had that soft teal blush on her pale face as she looked away uneasily, thinking about how to respond to all these sudden compliments. "Thank you Greg.. and- I'll try not to." She replied, finally turning her head and fixing her gaze to meet his eyes. "You don't have to be here you know." It came out more of a harsh suggestion than a comment, and made Greg worry for a brief moment.

"I want to be here! Unless- you want me to go?" The human asked, trying to scan her facial expression to know her true answer- but that wasn't needed since Pearl replied in a hurry. "No! I want you to stay! I-I don't think I can even get up on my own to be honest.." She blushed again, scratching the back of her head as she felt a drop of cold sweat trickle down the side of her pale forehead. And now that she repeated what she said out loud in her head, she realized how desperate and silly it must have sounded. Now she wished she could take it back, and quickly had to recover. "I —"

She couldn't finish her sentence as the gem felt her own resistance give up on her. Pearl's stomach finally turned from all the tense nervousness, and it took only half a second for her to turn around away from Greg and spill out the contents of her stomach which was nothing but soda. She gaged painfully and trembled as she hunched over the grass below, putting both hands out in front of her to support her upper body as her insides moved in an odd way. She made sure not to vomit on her own hands, but the space in between instead. It was all so gross, Pearl was glad to have her back turned to Greg so he couldn't see her throwing up. The pale gem continued to gag, her body attempting to regurgitate every last drop of that fizzy soda. Her eyes wide from shock, and filled with tears.

She sounded like she was in so much pain, her body shaking from shock followed by more sweat trailing down her face. Greg felt bad for her, and needed to do something. Once again, he couldn't just sit there and watch Pearl suffer. And so he gently put a hand on her back, patting it lightly to help her- and maybe also to comfort her. She must be scared of what was happening to herself, maybe even confused and disgusted- And then she threw up another gush of soda that had been inside her until now. The patting on her back defiantly helped get that last bit out of her system, and probably saved her from going through a lot of painful dry gags.

Once the human felt her finish, he started to rub her back in a circular motion, causing her to relax all the tension that had been keeping her locked in place during this awful experience. "Deep breaths." He said in a soft voice, and felt the small frame under his hand heave in and out slowly. Then after a few uneasy breaths as if testing the waters- her breaths became normal again and her trembling subsided. She gathered up her strength to move away from the disgusting mess and crawled back towards Greg. She still had tears in her eyes and a few hanging on her jaw and eventually dripping off of her face. "..h..here." He said as he handed her a handkerchief, and she thanked him silently before wiping her tears away, then later wiping her clean lips just in case.

"I'm so sorry you had to see that.." Pearl frowned, holding the wet handkerchief tight in her balled hands. Her eyes were casted down, and she almost looked like a guilty dog that had unintentionally knocked over a flower pot. The Crystal Gem has never felt so embarrassed in front of a human- it wouldn't have mattered if this had happened fifteen years ago, but now.. something made it matter.

Greg attempted to make her feel a little better, and spoke. "Don't worry- Rose threw up twice during her pregnancy with Steven.. she defiantly had an... interesting reaction. She was more fascinated then upset." He chuckled awkwardly, and managed to get Pearl to smile as she set the handkerchief down on the grass beside her. "Well that's different!" Pearl protested. "She threw up because she was pregnant. I just.. threw up because I wanted to win a soda contest!" Pearl frowned. "And now I feel disgusting and dizzy.." She added, knowing that if she tried to stand up now, she would most likely stumble back or faint. The words worried Greg, and he wondered if he could at least get her to walk to the van. But she seemed pretty comfortable and relaxed leaning back on the tree, so he thought maybe they should just sit here for a little longer while she recovers.

"Hey."

It was Romona's low and raspy voice that was heard from the distance. She was walking towards them and stopped a few feet away with an apologetic expression on her makeup covered face. She nervously scratched the back of her pink-haired head, looking down at Pearl who was sitting next to a stranger.

"I know you didn't win, but you can still come and get donuts with us tomorrow if you're up for it." She suggested, feeling bad for making Pearl drink so much soda. But the gem looked too sickly to even answer, Romona didn't come to a realization of how painful soda was to Pearl until today.

"I..." Would love to! Was what Pearl wanted to say, but Romona's friends would be going to. And Pearl didn't exactly like eating anything in the first place. She would have to force herself to look happy, and pretend to enjoy eating donuts and try to interact with her human friends.. that didn't sound fun, but she wanted so badly to spend time with Romona. She didn't notice the long silence she had caused during her racing thoughts.

"I think Pearl isn't feeling that good- so maybe.." Greg turns to face Pearl. "You should lay low tomorrow?" He said with a slight shrug as the gem blinked. This was a good idea, and she really wasn't feeling up for going anywhere tomorrow. Not after this.

Romona nodded. "I'm ok with whatever you choose Pearl. But I think my boy friend's coming and buying us all donuts! So none of us would have to pay!" She laughed slightly. "So if you don't have any cash, there's no need to sweat." Romona spoke so laid-back, as if she was laying down on an invisible couch upside down while just waking up from a nap. Her tone was lazy, and also happy- but boy friend?

Pearl looked around fearfully, not sure if she should bring the question up in front of Greg- but she had to know. Her serious gaze met Romona's gaze, and she spoke with a slight shakiness in her voice. "B-boy friend? I thought you broke up with him..?" The gem sounded so sad, maybe even disappointed. Romona just raised one of her perfect eyebrows and curled one end of her luscious lips. "Oh him? No I'm talking about a different one. He's the main player of the band that's up tonight. I met him like- a few days after my breakup. He's nice, don't worry." She waved her hand as if it was nothing, while Greg looked from Romona to Pearl- worried about how she was feeling right now. This must be awkward.

She fiddled her hands and looked down at her legs and her no-longer round belly. "I think I'll stay home tomorrow.. wouldn't want to get sick in front of everyone." Pearl mumbled in a fake teasing tone, maybe a little too quietly, but Romona heard her clearly. "Well let me know if you change your mind! And I hope you feel better." She waved and swiveled around on her heel and started walking back towards the party as the jacket tied around her waist flowed along with the wind behind her. Once the human disappeared in to the bushes, Pearl let out a very long sigh, letting all her tension go along with it. She hadn't even noticed her slightly watery eyes, and blamed it on the soda. Or maybe she was actually sad that Romona had a boy friend?

She really thought Romona must have been the one, and now she ruined it.

The gem felt an familiar arm wrap around her and pull her close, and then she lost it. She let the small tears drop out of her large eyes and closed them as she did so. "I really thought she might have been the one Garnet was talking about.." The gem cried, not realizing she was snuggling up to the comfort of a warm body. Greg blushed slightly and held her tight, rubbing her arm with the hand that was wrapped around her shoulders. "Why don't you ask Garnet who she was talking about? That might help.." he suggested as he looked up at the millions of stars above them, letting the sounds of crickets engulf them in the silence. Pearl was thinking again, and wondering why she hadn't tried that sooner. If she told Garnet what happened today, maybe the fusion would be kind enough to let her know who this future lover was? "I think it will help." Pearl said as she moved all her weight from leaning on the tree to Greg. Feeling relaxed and a little bit sleepy from the need to recover. "We should go home soon. Steven needs to get some sleep." Pearl said as the human agreed, helping her stand up slowly as she continued to keep most of her weight leaned on to Greg.

"The van is just over there- do you think you can make it?" He asked and watched her nod with a struggle. She tried to act strong and took every step with caution and preciseness. Greg was defiantly helping a lot, since each step felt like her gem was cracking more and more until eventually- she sat in the soft cushioned passenger seat. Pearl was able to get her seat belt on as Greg left to go get Amethyst and Steven. He made sure to be quick, because he really didn't like the idea of a sick gem being alone at night.

Pearl turned her head to the right, and looked at her sad reflection painted on the glass window of the van. The party beyond it was nothing but a blur or lights and shuffling bodies. She could careless about this whole event, now that she was reliving every moment of it.

"Why did I do this?" She questioned herself softly, putting her palm against the cold glass as if she was talking to her reflection. "I don't even like rock parties or soda.." The gem casted her glance down, rubbing her cold hand on her arm in an attempt to keep the sad emotions at bay. "Greg is right… Going out of my comfort zone to make Romona happy is like my obsession with Rose all over again. This isn't right.. I know that.." Pearl mumbled to herself, tilting her head up and looking past the bumpy roof of the house. "I have to be a better me." The small lecture out loud to herself came to a quick halt as she saw three familiar figures making their way towards the van from the distance.

The changing lights behind the three made it hard for her to see their facial expressions, but the silhouettes were obviously Amethyst, Steven and Greg. Once they were close enough, Steven waved at the gem in the passenger seat with a light smile, climbing in to the back seats with Amethyst as his dad made his way around the front of the van and got himself seated in the drivers seat. The purple gem closed the door behind her, quietly pulling out her phone and deciding to delete the videos from the party, while Steven buckled himself in and observed his dad and Pearl in the two front seats. Greg also put his seatbelt on and checked the gem next to him and the other two through the mirror, making sure they were safely buckled in before turning the engine on.

The puttering mechanic sound turned in to a low hum, and the wheels slowly started to roll forward until eventually they were driving down the concrete road headed back home. The atmosphere in the car lacked voices, and when Greg checked the mirror inside the car, Steven had his eyes closed and Amethyst had earphones on and was nodding to a specific beat that no one could hear.

"So are you feeling any better?" He gave Pearl a quick glance before switching his eyes back on the road and keeping his grip tight on the wheel, even though it was a silent straight line in-between two empty fields. The gem nodded, and answered. "Yes. Now that the soda is out of my system, my stomach doesn't feel like its filled with bubbles anymore." She let out a tired chuckle. "Im physically better. Maybe mentally too." The gem smiled, looking over at Greg despite him looking at the view ahead. It set her at ease knowing he didn't know if she was looking at him or not for some odd reason. "You know..I actually wanted to thank you…" She blushed. " For staying with me, and standing up for me. Not a lot of people would have stayed next to a puking—" She hesitated as her eyes met her own reflection.

She was blushing.

And she had no idea until now.

The gem remembered feeling small hints of heat on her cheeks every now and then, but didn't realize it was blushing. Or at least blushing this much! If it were a few years ago, she would have never blushed when thanking Greg for staying with her. How long had she been blushing like this in front of this human? She's never acted like this before- not towards humans at least.

And it was then that the pinching thought echoed through out her mind: "Am I falling in love with.. HIM?!"


	7. Chapter 7

Possibilities

 _Chapter Seven : The Question_

It had been about three hours since Greg left the old beach house after dropping off Pearl and his son. The half gem was fast asleep in the warmth of his soft bed, while Pearl sat down on the beige couch after taking a quick shower to clean herself up. Despite not getting any vomit on her from earlier, she still felt dirty and just had to decontaminate every inch of her physical form. The brisk shower was nice though, since back on Homeworld, only the Diamonds had the authority to access warm water to clean themselves. But here on Earth, the gem was able to enjoy a steaming hot shower while singing her heart out as the moisture soothed her throat and her voice bounced off the echoing walls of the bathroom. The singing was mostly what sent Steven to sleep within seconds. Pearl's voice was always soothing to him when she wasn't shouting or rambling about some historical gem place. Her singing always set him at ease, and helped him fall asleep quickly.

Once Pearl got comfortable on the couch, she pulled out a hardcover book from her gem and started to read. Thankfully she was sitting right by the edge of the couch, where the dim light of the lamp displayed the paper pages perfectly. The rest of the house was dark and peaceful, which also helped Steven sleep.

So while he slept dreamlessly, Pearl scanned the inked words of the book she was holding. One hand open behind the spread out hardcover, and her other pinching the next page of the dry paper she was about to turn. Pearl had many books stored in her gem, about a hundred. But unfortunately now, she only had thirty six that weren't ashes. Most of them had caught fire and burned within seconds when the parasite has snuck in. All of the ashes were washed away along with the water that overflowed her gem, which was supposed to be a good thing, but all Pearl remembered was the grain-like texture of the ashes sneaking in to the tears that poured from her eyes afterwards. It wasn't visible, but she could feel it. The whole memory sent a shiver down her spine for a brief moment before she went back to reading her current book. This one was a human-book in English text. She only had a few ancient gem-lettered books in her storage, since at the time Homeworld was still hunting down all the books to transfer the text to digital documents. And now there were no books in gem writing she could read because of an unfortunate fire that had burned the last of them Pearl had kept hidden and safe. Turns out her gem wasn't the safest place for books to be, but at least this book survived, and thankfully it was just what she needed.

It was a book about the study of human emotions tied to the brain. Once everything from the past few days clicked in to place, she figured she may have feelings for Greg, and thought that a bit of studying may help with all of this.

The situation still bedazzled her, that she could feel that way towards a human, but she has changed a lot since Steven's arrival. Even Greg had changed a lot. It was like they both moulded in to new personalities that would go perfectly well with each other. The more she thought about it, the more reasons to love him crossed her mind. He likes drawing, music, and working with mechanics or cars just like she did. And maybe an organized and clean person was just what Greg needed as a partner? Of course messy places were unsatisfying to Pearl, but sometimes a good cleaning up was satisfying. It was like a stress reliever to her, and also in her nature to be working all the time. But the biggest parts were their personalities and life goals that just combined together like two puzzle pieces. Both so different, and yet they complete each other.

Greg was very laidback, kind and loving, and had great morals to begin with. But he did have trouble setting a good example for Steven- which Pearl had done for him. Greg didn't care about money, or fame- not anymore at least, and was always there for Steven. While Pearl was uptight, overprotective and cared too much about the ones she loved. And had trouble loving herself and getting along in the human world- but Greg did those things easily, and helped Steven enjoy his human life. Maybe he could help Pearl too?

Overall, they were almost complete opposites- who both wanted nothing more than to make Steven happy. They were opposites that would be able to keep things balanced and help each other and help Steven in different ways. Pearl could teach the boy about gem things and how to keep things clean, while Greg could teach Steven about human things like how to have a job or drive. It could all work out, and the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. Garnet's future visions never lie- but Pearl hadn't asked her yet about who this lover was.. But now she wanted to observe and learn more to see if maybe she could have a relationship with Greg. A part of Pearl really wanted to make this work, but she was so embarrassed and scared of what might happen or what others might think.

Then the warp pad activated and Garnet appeared. She turned to go in to the temple, but Pearl scrambled to her feet and dropped the book hastily on the couch beside her. "Wait! Garnet-" She extended her arm out briefly as if it could reach Garnet's broad shoulder. She retraced it back to her side uneasily and looked away as Garnet stopped in her steps and turned her square shaped head back around to look at the nervous Pearl. She parted her luscious lips with a small smirk. "I have a feeling I know what you're going to ask." She spoke in her monotone voice, calm and collected as she crossed her arms in front of her chest with the corners of her lips still pursed up in a happy smile. Pearl hesitated before tilting her chin back up to face her instead of the floor, trying to focus on Garnets hidden eyes. "Y-Yes. I think I know who you were talking about... but I don't know if these feelings are true. I don't know if he even feels the same way.." The gem frowned, her pale blue eyes closing as she sped through all the negative possibilities in her mind.

Garnet had an idea of how Pearl was feeling, and slowly approached her, putting a firm hand on her small shoulder. It made her flinch from slight shock of a confident grip coming from nowhere, but she quickly got over it and gazed in to her own reflection on Garnet's glasses. "You have to experiment, spend more time with him and get to know him more. That's how Ruby and Sapphire discovered their love for each other." The fusion moved her hand away with a determined smile on her face. She put her hands on her own hips as Pearl's pupils raced around the room in thought. "I'll um..try.." She said quietly, but it was enough to satisfy Garnet. "I'm proud of you for trying Pearl. I'm giving you a day off tomorrow. We will only be needing Steven's shield to take care of the next group of corruptions." The red gem gave Pearl a thumbs up before retreating back to her room in the temple. Leaving the semi-lit room quieter than ever. It was perfect for Steven to sleep, and perfect for Pearl to do some pondering and thinking. What could she possibly do to ask to spend more time with Greg, without making him suspicious or uncomfortable? She didn't know what to say or what the two of them could-

"You should go on a date!" Steven's happy voice was heard from above, making Pearl jump before turning around to look up. The boy had now jumped off his comfortable bed and was walking down the creaking stairs.

"Steven! You should be sleeping-" Pearl felt the heat rise in her cheeks, realizing that Steven must have heard the whole conversation between her and Garnet.

The boy just smiled and walked up to Pearl while rubbing one of his sleepy eyes. "I know, but I need to go to the bathroom any way!" He chuckled, setting Pearl at ease a little. She sighed and slumped her shoulders down, putting an arm around herself while she brought the hand of her other arm up to her mouth, loosely covering it while blushing blue. The elbow of her bent arm rested on the hand wrapped around her torso, and she eagerly tried to find something to tell Steven, but the boy spoke first.

"You should ask him on a date! You know what that is, right?" Steven asked, just to be sure as he looked up at the uneasy gem. "..Y...yes.. I..I know what a date is. It's like a romantic event- right?" She said as if she was asking for reassurance, but Steven just pulled a funny face and shrugged with a chukle. "Well- I guess! It's kind of like a way for the two of you to hang out and get to know each other more romantically! And I'm sure dad would be up for it if that's what you're worried about!" He smiled again, raising his hands in the air excitedly, not realizing he may have slipped up by saying 'dad'.

Pearl's eyes widened as she went stiff on her two feet. The loose hand covering her mouth clenched in to a small polite fist as beads of sweat trailed down the side of her forehead. "I didn't say it was him!" She corrected him, then laughing a little nervously. "I mean- me and him?! Can you imagine that?" The panicked laugh turned in to a small chuckle, which made Steven frown briefly before replying. "Of course I can! You two are like- perfect for each other!" White stars appeared in his pupils as he looked at Pearl, as if begging to ask his dad on a date. The whole thing just made her more uneasy. "How do you even know if I'm talking about him?" She tried to change the subject, but it was a silly question that Steven easily brought down. "You don't really hang out with other humans in Beach City! And all the gems are here, so... I uh- assumed it was dad!" And plus, he was the only other person with the pronoun 'He' that Steven could think of that Pearl would know well enough to consider dating. He hoped his panicked response would avoid Pearl from asking any more questions about how he knew-

"Ok. I'll think about your.. date idea. But as of now, please don't tell anyone.." The pale gem asked with pleading eyes, and Steven nodded in anticipation. "Don't worry about it! My lips are sealed!" He joked and zipped up an invisible zip between his lips in a straight line.

The next day, it was around 8am when Steven snuck out the house and dashed as fast as he could towards the car wash. Garnet and Amethyst said they would be leaving in half an hour to go take care of the corruptions, and Steven was invited to go as well. His shield was very crucial for this specific mission, so he couldn't exactly say no. The boy only had a few minutes to tell his dad something and rush back to the beach house before he had to leave, and also before Pearl would get suspicious.

When he set foot on the premises of the soap-scented air, his dad was sitting on the edge of his shaded van with his guitar. The car wash wouldn't open for another two hours, but luckily during the summer, nobody liked driving their sunbaked cars all the way to the car wash just for a hose down, unless it was covered in mud or some other serious mess. And Greg already had a lot of spare change in his pocket, so he didn't have to depended too much on getting an income from the car wash- but it was still something he liked to do. He had been running it for over fifteen years now, and wanted to keep the old position going.

The human set his guitar aside and stood up as he saw his son run up to him and stop a few feet away. Steven bent forward a little, putting his hands on his knees and trying to catch his breath. "Hey buddy, are you ok?" Greg said with worry, quickly picking up the bottle of water sitting beside the guitar he had put down and handed it to Steven white kneeling down to meet his level. The boy took it with one swift motion, chugging all the lukewarm water as if he hadn't drank anything for days. He made loud gulping noises and finished the bottle of water within seconds until it was nothing more than plastic. He let out a long sigh of relief and satisfaction before speaking. "Thank you dad!" The boy smiled. "And guess what?! Pearl is going to ask you on a date today!" He said excitedly, while Greg embarrassingly blushed with wide eyes. "W-What?!" The surprise in his tone was obvious. He defiantly wasn't expecting to hear this from his son in the morning.

Steven's smile grew while he leaned forward and back as if swaying on his feet, with his hands behind his back holding the plastic bottle. "Well.. I kinda convinced her! Can you say yes? To her date?" This was the question that he needed to be answered before he left. He didn't want to set Pearl up just for his dad to say no and make her less confident and probably upset. He needed to make sure his dad felt the same way, and would say yes to her if she asked. But the hesitation to his answer started to worry the boy. "You.. convinced her? I- don't want her to do something she doesn't want to do Steven.." He scratched the back of his head nervously. "And I'm not sure if I can jump back in to the relationship wagon.." And with another gem? He wasn't so sure about it the more he started to think. His last relationship with a gem wasn't exactly the best, since she lied to everyone about the whole Gem War, and then ended up giving up her physical form to have Steven. Rose had so many secrets, and left too soon- but it was no excuse to not try things out with Pearl. He already hated seeing the sad look on his sons face as soon as he spoke those words, and instantly regretted it.

Steven frowned and looked down at his toes tucked in his sandals, disappointed in his answer since he had really wanted for things to work out. "I understand dad.. I need to go back now. Garnet and Amethyst are leaving soon for a mission, and they need me!" He snapped out of being upset and jumped up a tad to give his dad a quick hug. Greg hugged him back, smiling lightly as Steven moved away from his arms. "I'll see how things go with Pearl, so don't worry- ok? You go focus on your mission!" He reassured him with a thumbs up, grinning with a playful wink. Steven's smile returned and he waved his hand, saying his good byes before running back the way he came from. The boy ran as fast as his two feet could take him, already starting to feel tired from the day. He still had a lot to get done, and would probably have sore muscles later in his legs or arms. The thought made him slow down until eventually he came to a steady walk up the small hill to the beach house. The boy picked up his pace for the duration of going up the squeaky wooden stairs, then swung the netted front door open, relieved to see Garnet just step out of the temple in time. The purple gem was laying on the couch, but hopped up when she saw Garnet wall out of her room and on to the warp pad. Amethyst waved at Steven and gestured for the boy to follow her as she got on the blue circle. "Come on Ste-Man! Let's a-go!" She smiled teasingly as the half gem ran up to the warp pad and got on. "Ok, let's warp away!" He said triumphantly as the bright crystal light of the warp pad beneath them shone up in to the sky, warping them to the desert.

Pearl snapped the hardcover book closed in her hand and let it levitate back in to her gem. She was standing on the tips of her toes along the thin layer of water covering the round surface that floated like a fountain in the middle of her room. She had spent the last hour finishing the last chapter of the book, which focused on the study of how human brains react differently to emotions displayed by other humans. The whole book was very interesting to Pearl, but was only a little helpful for what she was about to do. She sighed and made her way out of her peaceful room in the temple with her head low. Her body tense and mind racing as she continued to walk across the house and eventually along the beach.

"What would I even say? 'Hello, would you like to go on a date with me?' No that sounds silly..." She mumbled to herself, contemplating on the words she would say when the time came. She didn't even pay attention to her surroundings as she walked, as if her body was a robot or had a mind of its own- just continued to walk and function while she put aside the lines she may want to say in her brain while she discarded the lines she thought to sound stupid or too desperate. "Ok. I can do this.." she encouraged herself as she decided her words, rehearsing them until she came to a sharp stop where the sidewalk pavement connected to the concrete road that lead to the carwash. She looked beyond the entrance, watching the human laugh with a customer as the person paid him in crumpled green cash. The gem stepped back slightly to make more room for the in-coming shining car that was driving off of the property and back on to the main dark grey road. Greg was busy stuffing the money carelessly in his pocket, not even bothering to count them as he brushed off his hands. His gaze didn't follow the car as it left, so he hadn't seemed to have noticed Pearl. He just whistled a tune as he walked over to what seemed to be a soap water-filled bucket, and picked it up, then disappearing in to the car wash building. Pearl took this chance to walk over to the open back doors of the van, which was not as hot as she expected since it was half in the shade and the all windows were also rolled down.

The pale gem smiled at the sight of the clean inside, all neat and organized. Satisfied, she sat on the edge and waited patiently for him to return, looking around at her surroundings curiously as if she had never been here before. But she had been here before, more than Rose ever had, and still she would always find something new to appreciate about the place she thought once to be dirty and terrible. Like today, she noticed how the bright orange cones were stacked neatly on the far side of the lot, casting rubbery shines as if they were cleaned only a few moments ago.

"Whoa! You scared me there for a moment." Greg chuckled to himself as he sat down next to Pearl, no longer holding a bucket. The gem blushed teal and looked down at her knees that were pressed together as she sat. The human could easily sense her nervousness, and so he gulped and tried his best to lighten up the mood. "So what brings you here?" He asked her in a friendly tone, grabbing ahold of his guitar that he had put aside. Then he started to pluck a few strings lightly as if tuning it, since sometimes this helped calm himself down in awkward situations like this. The gentle vibrating sound of the guitar seemed to calm Pearl down a bit as well. It was nice to listen to such relaxing, quiet tunes.

"I..." She started, but suddenly all the words left her mind like some one had pulled the drain of a perfectly filled bath tub. Everything she had been rehearsing from the walk to here was wiped away while her defenses were down. She stopped thinking about the lines for only a few minutes, and forgot everything. She had to abort, and go home to re-strategize everything. She couldn't afford to mess this up, not when Garnet saw a potential future of her being in a loving relationship with one of the only few people she trusted. But right now, she had to quickly scramble up some words and excuses. "I..uh.. oh! I wanted to give this back to you!" She closed her eyes and smiled as her gem glowed like the sun. She held out a hand in front of it before an orb of light came out and shifted in to a rectangular form. The item dropped in her slim hand and the light faded, revealing a very old-looking familiar sketchbook. She handed it to Greg who set his guitar aside again. "I accidentally kept this in my gem since that day at the beach with the corruption- I was meaning to give it back, but forgot from the excitement of the rock party." She added as the human took it with a smile back. "Thank you Pearl! But- you can keep this drawing if you want to. I did draw it for you." Luckily the sketchbook was already turned to the page with the beautiful sketch of Pearl. The gem almost felt embarrassed for blindly returning a gift that was supposed to be for her. So she tried to respond neutrally, also trying not to panic or blush this time now that she knew how often she had been blushing.

"I would like that very much." Pearl watched as he teared the top of the paper slowly and carefully in a straight thin line along the ringed column of the sketchbook.

Once the paper was detached from it, he handed it to the gem and she took it with a quick glance before storing it away in her gem. "Thank you Greg." She got up from sitting on the edge of the van, and Greg seemed surprised that she would be leaving so soon. He had been expecting her to ask him a very specific question- was he maybe looking forward to answering that question? He didn't want her to leave, not yet. "Wait- that's it?" The casualness in his voice was convincing, when he actually just wanted her to stay. Pearl turned to face him with a confused look on her pale face. "W-What do you mean?" She started to feel the panic rising inside her, a small drop of sweat forming on the side of her forehead. Greg then got up, so now he didn't have to tilt his head up to look at Pearl. They were actually the same height now, and maybe he was even a little taller than her. Since she seemed to have shrunk a bit through out the years.. or maybe it was because of her reforming? He didn't know, but he was happy to meet her eyes. "I just.. wasn't expecting you to come and go so quickly." His nervous smile was defiantly cute to Pearl, but she didn't blush. She had to contain herself. "oh.. that- well, I just thought I should give you your sketchbook back and.. came over here.." She could even hear her own nervousness in her tone. Since when did this all become so uneasy and awkward? "I should go." She turned around to leave- but felt a hand wrap around her small wrist. Not tight, but gentle.

"Wait! I.. oh- sorry!" He quickly moved his hand away, blushing crimson and deciding to look in to her eyes. "Do you maybe.. want to go on a date with me?" He can't believe he just asked the question himself. But now he knew that he did want to try things out with Pearl, and he wanted to go on a date with her. Steven had said she was going to ask him- so she must feel the same way, right? He just hoped he did, otherwise this whole thing would be more awkward than it already was.

Pearl's cheeks practically lit up blue as her wide eyes blinked at the question. "W-where would we go?" She asked a question back, hitting her own head mentally for saying such a stupid thing. She should have just said yes, but her logical mind had to ask.

Thankfully, Greg had a good idea of where he could go with Pearl. Since he knew what she did and didn't like, it made things a little easier. "There is this beautiful place in the forest I used to take Rose to.. I really think you would like it! I can pick you up later this evening." He shrugged as if it was more of a question, looking at Pearl's face and trying to identify what she was feeling or assume what she was about it say- but there was no need for him to worry about anything. Since Pearl liked the sound of this date-offer.

"That sounds wonderful! What time?" Her nervousness started to drift away, and was being replaced by excitement. And the same thing was happening for Greg, so he quickly responded. "Around 5! I'll pick you up then?" He watched as she nodded, both of them excited and smiling as they waved each other good bye.


End file.
